Brandon Triche had 18 points, including a pair of free throws that broke the final tie with 88 seconds left, and No. 3 Syracuse beat West Virginia 63-61 on Saturday.

After Triche's free throws, the Mountaineers missed four straight shots, including an airball 3 by Darryl "Truck" Bryant and a miss on the follow by Deniz Kilicli. But when Kris Joseph snared the rebound and tried to dribble away, he fell out of bounds with 6.2 seconds left, giving West Virginia one last chance. Kevin Jones missed a 3 from the left corner at the buzzer and Syracuse survived.

Syracuse (22-1, 9-1 Big East) has won 13 of the past 14 games against West Virginia (15-7, 5-4). The win was the 878th for Orange coach Jim Boeheim, moving him within one victory of tying North Carolina's Dean Smith for third in Division I.