Tyus Battle drained a three-pointer as time expired to lift Syracuse to an 82-81 victory over Clemson on Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.

It appeared the Tigers were about to pull off a much needed win when Donte Grantham made a shot from the free throw line to give the Tigers an 81-79 lead with 6.7 seconds to play. The Orange tied the game before that when Tyler Lydon made two free throws with 35.3 to go.

“This was obviously a painful ending to a really well played game by our team,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “I thought offensively, we played about as well as you can play. We shot 54 percent, with 19 assists, and had only eight turnovers. We just played at a really high level.

“We got the ball in a lot of good places – five players in double figures – that’s why it is so painful. We had a mixup on the last play. We thought [Tyler] Roberson was still in the game for them, he is their best offensive rebounder so we had Sidy [Djitte] in to make sure he didn’t tip one in, then you look out and he is not in the game. We were in trouble because he isn’t used to guarding perimeter players that often, and he left a shooter and we lost on a last-second shot. It is unfortunate. I feel awful for my players.”

The two teams went back-and-forth all night. Though Clemson led by as many as 12 points in the first half and 11 in the second, Syracuse quickly came back in both instances. This is the third time in their five-game winning streak that the Orange has rallied from 10 or more points down to earn a victory.

Avery Holmes drained a three-pointer with 1:23 to play from left wing to give the Tigers a 79-77 lead. However, Syracuse hung tough.

“We got a lot of good looks,” Brownell said. “I thought we mixed a lot of different things to try to give them different looks. I thought our kids made some tremendous plays, especially when it got tight and we showed great poise. The last play, with a tie game, to run it down, there was a five-second difference and we ran it down; unfortunately you look up and we shot about two seconds too early. That is one of the more difficult things against a zone is knowing how long is too long – otherwise you don’t shoot at all – then you pass it back out and you barely get a shot. It was really disappointing. We executed that perfectly and got it to Donte [Grantham], he turned and made a great shot, and unfortunately with seven seconds left we didn’t finish the game.”

Following Grantham’s jump shot and a Clemson timeout to set its defense with 5.6 seconds to play, guard John Gillon quickly got the ball up court, found Lydon who drove towards the basket like he was going to shot it, but when he saw Sidy Djitte collapse and leave Battle, he kicked it out to the freshman, who was wide open in the corner for the game-winner.

“I think in that situation they are going to do whatever is there,” Brownell said. “If you don’t guard and stay with the three-point shooters, which is what we would have done, they are going to attack the rim and try to make a layup, runner, whatever you want, with guys crashing. If you help out of the corner, they are going to make a three to win.”

Andrew White led the Orange (16-9, 8-4 ACC) with a game-high 23 points. Lydon had 17 points and nine rebounds.

The Tigers (13-10, 3-8 ACC) were led by Jaron Blossomgame’s 20 points. Holmes finished with 13 points, while Marcquise Reed tallied nine points and had six assists. Shelton Mitchell had 10 points and 8 assists. Gabe Devote and Grantham also scored 10 points.

Djitte had 11 rebounds and six points in a losing effort.

Clemson closed out the first half on 6-0 run in the last 1:11 to take a 40-38 lead. The Tigers led by as many as 12 points, 20-8, with 11:05 to play in the opening half.

But Syracuse rallied behind the play of Andrew White, who scored 14 points to start the game. The ‘Cuse came back to take a 38-34 lead, before the Tigers went on their mini-run to close out the half.

Clemson made 4 of its last 5 shots to close the first half.

The Tigers will play at Duke on Saturday at 1 p.m.