CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A sea of orange-clad fans scurried onto the court. A star player jumped onto a chair. A head coach wiped tears of joy from his face.

The Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship had just been determined and nets would soon be cut down.

But the Syracuse players were walking the other way.

“This is the first game all year that we were out of,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “It’s the first time that we’ve been out of the game in the last five minutes.”

It was Virginia’s fans who stormed the John Paul Jones Arena court and celebrated winning what many called the most important game played in Charlottesville in more than two decades. The No. 12 Cavaliers (25-5, 16-1 Atlantic Coast) beat No. 4 Syracuse (26-3, 13-3) 75-56 in front of a sold-out crowd of 14,593 on Saturday, sealing their first outright regular-season title since 1981.

Justin Anderson and freshman London Perrantes led a 35-16 second-half run, as the Orange struggled to close out defensively and maintain its offensive rhythm without forward Jerami Grant, who missed the second half with a sore back.

With the defeat — SU’s third in four games — it loses out on the top seed in the ACC tournament, as well as possibly a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“They got a lot of good looks,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “They didn’t really force anything. They took their time and were able to give us different looks, different guys in the high post.”

With 11:20 to play, the game was tied at 42. Trevor Cooney had hit consecutive 3-pointers to answer the Cavaliers’ first wave of triples — one each from Perrantes, Malcolm Brogdon and Anderson — and the Orange was entering crunch time with the confidence it had gained from a season filled with narrow victories.

But the offensive efficiency waned. Tyler Ennis missed Baye Moussa Keita on a wide-open roll to the rim. Ennis and Cooney bricked 3s late in the shot clock. Rakeem Christmas baited Mike Tobey with a pump fake, but then missed a baby hook.

“We had some good looks,” Cooney said. “Sometimes it’s going to happen. Sometimes it’s not going to fall for you. You’ve got to find other ways to win.

“We’ve done that in other games, but we just didn’t do that tonight.”

And when UVA’s shooters stayed hot, the Cavaliers’ lead opened quickly. Brogdon spread out the SU zone with a flurry of mid-range jump shots before Perrantes hit a 3 from five feet beyond the top of the key.

Then Anderson struck with another from the left wing, and Joe Harris hit from the same spot. At the 4:40 mark, Virginia led 60-47.

“Everybody on that team, you’ve got to respect,” Fair sad. “So if you show one guy too much attention, then the next guy gets open. I think that’s kind of how it happened.”

Boeheim said the Orange focused on locking down Harris and Perrantes, who combined for just one first-half point. With the Cavaliers focusing their attack inside, the strategy worked up until halftime. They went away from their shooters — Anderson’s triple with 50 seconds left in the opening frame was their first 3 of the game.

It wasn’t until UVA started working inside out that it was able to create open shots from the arc.

“We were much better off attacking the 3-point line and letting them get what they could get inside,” Boeheim said. “We just didn’t do that in the second half.”

After Harris’ 3-pointer, it was just a matter of time before Virginia would grab the win. With each whistle, the roar of the crowd grew louder.

Ennis fouled out with 1:35 to play and “A-C-C” chants broke out in the final moments.

As a raucous celebration ensued behind them, the Orange players trudged off the court.

“They just really penetrated us, made us collapse and did a good job making us relocate out of the zone,” SU guard Michael Gbinije said. “It was just tough to match up with them.”

Published on March 1, 2014 at 6:20 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1