SYRACUSE (AP) -- Brandon Triche had 20 points, Kris Joseph added 16 and No. 17 Syracuse rallied late to beat West Virginia 63-52 on Monday night to snap a three-game losing streak at home.
The Orange (21-6, 8-6 Big East) hadn't lost four in a row at home since 1962-63, four years before coach Jim Boeheim enrolled. Syracuse has won 12 of the last 13 in the series with the Mountaineers (16-9, 7-6), who dropped out of the Top 25 earlier Monday.
After Casey Mitchell made his sixth 3-pointer of the game and Kevin Jones hit a jumper from the top of the key to move West Virginia within 51-49 at 8:22, the Orange responded with a 12-3 run to close the game.
Mitchell, who was 7 of 12 from 3-point range, finished with 23 points.
Joseph started the closing run with two free throws. C.J. Fair deflected a West Virginia pass in the lane and scored on a driving layup at the other end off a feed from Scoop Jardine.
Triche, playing with four fouls, followed by stealing an errant pass and scoring on another driving layup, and Fair's bank shot gave the Orange a seven-point lead with 4:54 left
Joseph then cut behind the Mountaineers along the baseline and slammed home a feed from Jackson with 3:36 left.
The Syracuse defense, victimized repeatedly in the first half from long range, clamped down late, holding West Virginia to one field goal - a 3-pointer by Mitchell - over the final 8 minutes.
In the Orange's six losses, the Syracuse zone was beaten for 55 3-pointers on 118 attempts (46.6 percent), and that trend continued against the Mountaineers. They made 11 of 22 3s but were outscored 34-4 in the paint, 19-0 on the fast break, and shot 36.2 percent for the game.
John Flowers added 10 points for West Virginia, but Kevin Jones was held to a season-low four points on 2-of-8 shooting.
Rick Jackson had 10 points and nine rebounds and Jardine had nine points, six assists and four turnovers for the Orange.
West Virginia hit 7 of 13 (53.8 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half, failing to score a point in the paint, and led 30-26 after consecutive 3s by Flowers and Mitchell in the final 96 seconds.
Syracuse started the second half with a flourish after a putback by Flowers gave West Virginia a six-point lead.
Joseph and Triche converted consecutive three-point plays and Triche and Jardine followed with 3-pointers to give the Orange a 38-35 lead with 17:14 left. Jardine hit his from the left wing after freshman center Baye Moussa Keita swatted a shot by Cam Thoroughman to start a break.
A dunk by Jackson, another three-point play by Triche, and a runner in the lane by Fair gave Syracuse a 51-42 lead with 10:57 left.
But Jackson missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Joseph missed two free throws as the Orange went cold, and the Mountaineers capitalized to pull within a basket.
Keita made his first start of the season, replacing classmate Fab Melo, who did not play for the second straight game after missing two practices last week.
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
