Charles Nailen/The Hoya Syracuse sophomore guard Gerry McNamara sunk an off-balance, buzzer-beating, game-winning three-pointer Saturday at MCI Center to deny the Hoyas an upset over the No. 24 Orangemen.

In a season full of disappointments, Georgetown experienced a different kind of heartbreak Saturday. The Hoyas lost to defending national champion Syracuse, 57-54.

One of Georgetown’s best efforts of the season was ended in the cruelest fashion: with three defenders in his face, Syracuse’s sophomore guard Gerry McNamara hit a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

“That was a great shot,” Head Coach Craig Esherick remarked, saying all there really was to say.

After a miserable loss at St. John’s on Wednesday, Georgetown (13-10, 4-8 Big East) looked like a different team against the rival Orangemen (17-6, 7-5 Big East). Some of the best defense and rebounding of the season kept the Hoyas in the lead for almost all of the game. They were up by as many as six late in the second half.

But it all came down to the last six-tenths of a second, when, with the ball in McNamara’s hands, Syracuse snuffed out Georgetown’s last hope for a quality win that would guarantee them a season over .500 and give them a boost of confidence they have not yet experienced.

“Losing is just disappointing,” sophomore forward Brandon Bowman said. “It’s hard, especially like this, on a shot like that . I thought we had the game.”

With 8.3 seconds left, Syracuse was inbounding the ball against Georgetown’s full-court defense. Junior forward Hakim Warrick dribbled all the way down the court with Bowman riding him. Without a lane to the basket, Warrick kicked the ball to McNamara, who had Bowman, junior swingman Darrel Owens and senior center Courtland Freeman in front of him.

“Hakim did a good job of getting the ball past half court, and then when he picked up his dribble, the best way to get a shot is to come to the ball, and that’s what I did,” cNamara said. “I turned and I was pretty square, so I just shot it like I normally would. They said the guys actually hit me, but I didn’t even see the three guys.”

McNamara, who shoots 36 percent from beyond the three-point line and is his team’s second leading scorer, finished with 13 points. He made his first trey of the game, then missed six in a row, and finished by making three.

“That’s what he’s known for, making shots in the clutch,” Bowman said.

It was somewhat miraculous that Georgetown was able to keep the game close, considering their 27.7 shooting percentage. Leading scorer senior guard Gerald Riley was 3-of-13 and finished with 13 points. Sophomore point guard Ashanti Cook scored 13 on 5-of-13 shooting.

“It’s like dental surgery sometimes, watching three, four, five shots not go in,” Esherick said.

Bowman scored seven on 3-of-16 shooting, as he had trouble getting clean shots inside against the athletic Warrick, who had five blocks in the game, and 7-foot junior center Craig Forth. For all of his inside shot attempts, Bowman made just one trip to the free-throw line. Syracuse finished with 12 blocks.

But despite their offensive weaknesses, the Hoyas’ defense was very effective, forcing 25 Syracuse turnovers. They also outrebounded the Orangemen, 43-36 – a surprise considering their continual failings on the boards all season.

“Clearly the effort was there, and I was proud of our guys for that,” Esherick said.

The Hoyas’ efforts were less than a second away from being good enough for a win.

Warrick, who finished with 19 points, made two free throws with 52 seconds left to put Syracuse in the lead, 54-52. On the other end, Cook tried to penetrate the Syracuse zone, but his layup was blocked out of bounds. Georgetown took a timeout with 26.2 to go, and on the inbounding play, the pass got away from Owens. He tried to save the ball from going out of bounds but instead passed it right to Syracuse junior guard Josh Pace. Georgetown was forced to foul, but had fouls to give.

On Syracuse’s inbound, they could not get the ball in fast enough, turning it over to Georgetown with 15.8 seconds left. Freshman guard Matt Causey missed a jumper near the top of the key, but Freeman tipped in the rebound. Syracuse called a timeout with 8.3 left and the score tied at 54 to set up McNamara’s play.

At times during the late back-and-forth, the MCI Center crowd of 15,389 – including a large contingent of Syracuse fans – was as loud as it has been all year.

Syracuse has lost five of its last nine games, falling to No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and out of the Associated Press top 25. Every win for them is crucial for keeping tournament hopes alive. While he was generally unhappy with the way his team played, Head Coach Jim Boeheim emphasized the finality of the result: “Two weeks from now, nobody will remember the score,” he said.

Georgetown faces No. 3 Pittsburgh next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at CI Center.