The season of comebacks was on the precipice of another. With two minutes and 20 seconds left, a security guard warned fans in courtside seats to be aware of a possible court storming, Syracuse’s third of the season.

With eight seconds left, Tyler Lydon passed the ball to Tyus Battle. Battle then lobbed it to John Gillon, who caught it with 4.4 seconds left. Gillon hadn’t realized how little time was left. He looked up at the clock and knew he had to sprint down the court.

“I was like, ‘Alright, I gotta go make a play,’” Gillon said.

He stopped at the 3-point line in the tied game. There was only time for one shot. The Orange had been in this position before. He beat the buzzer to force overtime against North Carolina State. Battle beat the buzzer against Clemson.

Lydon rushed to get the offensive rebound. Gillon didn’t know if it’d go in when it left his hand. Assistant coach Gerry McNamara screamed, “Bank! Bank! Bank!” from the sideline because he saw it was going long. The shot hit off the backboard and fell through the basket. Syracuse beat Duke. 78-75.

“I’m going to try and be a stone-cold killer every game,” Gillon said.

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

The win over No. 10 Duke (22-6, 10-5 Atlantic Coast) provides a massive boost to Syracuse’s (17-12, 9-7) NCAA Tournament resume. Wednesday night marked SU’s third Top 10 win of the season. Each previous time, students stormed the court. They did it again after 11 ties and 16 lead changes, none more dramatic than the final one.

Gillon didn’t sub out once and finished with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting and six assists. His ability to drive and score, which he showed more and more as the game went on, is the reason he took over midseason as Syracuse’s starting point guard. After committing five turnovers in each of the past two games, both losses, Gillon committed zero on Wednesday.

“We go as John Gillon goes,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said.

After joining the ACC in 2013-14, Syracuse and Duke played two of the most memorable games in recent SU history. In the first matchup that year, the Orange beat the Blue Devils in overtime. Gillon’s high school teammate Rasheed Sulaimon hit a buzzer-beater that tied the game at the end of regulation. The two talked last night. Gillon told Sulaimon he’d “kill Duke for him.”

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MORE COVERAGE

• Gallery: Syracuse’s upset victory over No. 10 Duke
• The Final Word: Syracuse stuns No. 10 Duke, 78-75
• Tyus Battle scores 18 points in Syracuse’s 78-75 upset win over No. 10 Duke
• What we learned from Syracuse’s 78-75 win against No. 10 Duke

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Gillon wowed the buzzing Dome crowd with under five minutes left in the first half by crossing over multiple times leading to Jayson Tatum tumbling to the floor. Gillon backpedaled and nailed a 3. As he walked back on defense, his facial expression didn’t change. It was the kind of play he was used to making at Arkansas-Little Rock and Colorado State against weaker competition.

But this was Duke, the 10th-ranked team in the country with the seventh most efficient offense nationwide, per Kenpom.com. On the Blue Devils’ next possession, Tatum, the future first-round NBA draft pick, hit a mid-range jumper. Syracuse trailed by eight and eventually as much as 10.

The two teams traded body blow after body blow all game. The team with the ball last would be in the best position to win.

For the seventh straight game, Syracuse faced a double-digit deficit. It was used to being in that position and the combination of Battle and Gillon exploded in the second half and combined for 44 points.

“This team keeps fighting,” Boeheim said.

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Gillon, in particular, has seemingly bounced back every time. After zero points in back-to-back games against North Florida and Connecticut, he scored 23 against Boston University. He followed up a zero-point performance against Notre Dame by leading SU down the stretch against Wake Forest in its first ACC single-digit win.

On Sunday, Gillon had his worst game of the season. He went 2-for-10 from the field with three assists and five costly turnovers. Each time he touched the ball, Georgia Tech fans berated him with “air ball” chants. Now, Gillon’s resilience has sparked Syracuse’s in a season that nearly slipped away.

“How do you come back from a horrible game — and then do that? It’s special and underrated,” Gillon’s mother, Phyllis, said via text message. “(Boeheim) didn’t get down on John after the Georgia Tech game. Do fans really think players want to play poorly? They are trying to miss shots? That belief bore fruit. The outcome you saw tonight.”

Gillon’s first-ever buzzer-beater came in a fourth grade AAU tournament. About 50 people witnessed the shot. His friends jumped on him. Wednesday’s buzzer-beater came in front of nearly 30,281 more people. In the locker room after the game, an equipment manager held Gillon’s jersey. He showed it to a security guard before putting it in the laundry.

The transition from a motion-type offense to a pick-and-roll-type offense took time. Four new players in a starting lineup did too. And Gillon didn’t get off to a hot start Wednesday, either. In the final 13 minutes, he scored 12 of his 26 points. He reached the second level of Duke’s defense consistently and finished.

“Once I get a little taste of blood and I score, I just get addicted to it.”

The instant classic’s final shot cued another court storming. Another Top 10 win. Another gasp of breath for Syracuse’s once-lost season.

Published on February 22, 2017 at 10:50 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds