It took Georgetown’s offense about 70 minutes of basketball this season to solve Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, and when it did, the Hoyas turned another blowout into an exciting game.

The hole the Hoyas had dug was too deep in the end, though, as the Orange pulled out a 75-71 win at Verizon Center. No. 5 Syracuse (25-2, 12-2 Big East) took over first place in the Big East, while No. 10 Georgetown (18-7, 8-6) fell to seventh in the league.

The Orange’s long, aggressive zone held the Hoyas to 56 points in a 17-point rout three weeks ago at the Carrier Dome and then stymied Georgetown en route to a 60-37 lead with 12:37 to play Thursday night.

“In the first half, we played great defense. We didn’t let them get shots and we were right there almost all the time,” Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim said. “In the second half in the first 10 minutes, I don’t think our defense was that good. They just missed shots.”

Down 23, Georgetown stormed back behind its Big Three – center Greg Monroe and guards Chris Wright and Austin Freeman – who scored all but 10 of the team’s 71 points.

Freeman netted 11 of his 20 points over an eight minute span in the second half, including an and-one layup and a thunderous dunk in transition to cut a seven point deficit to two with 3:13 to play.

From there, Monroe took over. With Syracuse’s starting frontline of Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson fouled out, Georgetown went in to Monroe on three straight possessions. He hit layups the first two times and was fouled on the third try.

“At halftime we all felt we were close. We just had to be a little bit better at the offensive end [and] a little bit better at the defensive end,” Head Coach John Thompson III said, adding that this year’s Syracuse team plays their 2-3 zone better than he’s ever seen.

The Hoyas scored 34 of the game’s final 49 points, and they pulled to within one on two occasions but could never take the lead.

“We dug a hole for ourselves today, and we had a shot to win it. [We] had a couple of shots to win it,” Thompson said. \”That’s the way the ball bounces.\”

onroe missed a free throw that would have tied the game with 1:10 to play but jumped on the rebound and called timeout to retain possession. On the ensuing play, the Orange defense crowded around Monroe to prevent an entry pass. Wright drove the lane and set up guard Jason Clark for an open three-pointer, but it clanked off the side of the rim.

With 41 seconds on the game clock, the Orange used almost all of the 35-second shot clock before forward Kris Joseph drove past Monroe from the top of the key for a layup to stretch the lead to three.

“[Joseph] made a great play on the drive,” Boeheim said. “He had Monroe [guarding him] and we thought he could get by and make a play. He was able to get all the way to the basket.”

After Clark split a pair of free throws, guard Andy Rautins hit two free throws to ice the win. The Orange connected on 27-of-30 tries from the free throw line. The Hoyas faltered from the charity stripe in the second half, missing half of their 14 attempts.

“The reason we’ve played well on the road is we make key free throws down the stretch,” Boeheim said.

The Hoyas were behind 44-31 at halftime, and it could have been worse if not for Wright’s aggressive play.

The point guard scored 12 points, connecting on more field goals (five) than the rest of his teammates (four). On one play, Wright drove the length of the court in transition to set up Freeman for an open three. When Freeman missed, Wright corralled the rebound, drove to the basket and converted among the trees.

Syracuse shot 54.2 percent from the field in the first half and hit 5-of-8 three pointers. Georgetown connected on only 31 percent of their shots in the frame.

“In the first half, I think we were attacking the zone and making good decisions, but we weren’t making shots,” Wright said. “If you’re not making plays and they’re hitting threes, that’s tough.”

The loss was the Hoyas’ first this season when Wright scored in double figures. They had won the previous 16 games in which he cracked 10 points.

onroe played through foul trouble the entire game after committing his second 2:30 into the game and his third at the start of the second half. Thompson was forced to sub Monroe in for offense and out for defense the entire game.

In addition to Rautins’ game-high 26 points, the Orange were led by forward Wes Johnson’s 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocks.

Georgetown now has the weekend off to prepare for a trip to Louisville on Tuesday. The Cardinals (17-9, 8-5) are just ahead of the Hoyas in the league standings.”