Las Vegas ― The Syracuse Orange, playing without its leading scorer, almost pulled off an upset of the third-ranked Houston Cougars on Monday here at the Players Era Festival.

With starting forward Donnie Freeman watching from the bench with his right foot in a boot, the rest of the Syracuse players gave the Cougars everything they wanted and more before falling 78-74 in overtime.

Despite being short-handed, Syracuse took the fight right to Houston from the opening tap.

The Orange led by as many as nine points in the first half and refused to back down even when Houston went on runs of 10-3 and 9-0 in the second half.

With 1:54 left in the game and Syracuse trailing 67-62, a “Let’s Go Orange” chant broke out at the MGM Grand’s Garden Arena.

Syracuse center William Kyle answered with a

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