Demons hardly shooting stars

When DePaul forward Karron Clarke hit a 3-pointer on the Blue Demons' first possession Wednesday night, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim almost ran to O'Hare for a quick flight out of town.

"I started getting flashbacks again," Boeheim said, reflecting on the Orange's last game in Rosemont -- a 39-point blowout loss in 2006 when Clarke scored a career-high 27 points.

Boeheim needn't have worried.

From the outside, from the inside and from midrange, most of DePaul's shots had a similar result.

Clang!

Syracuse didn't exactly set the nets on fire, but the Orange made enough shots to earn a 60-55 Big East victory at the Allstate Arena.

Facing the Orange's 2-3 zone, DePaul made 24 of 69 shots (34.8 percent). The Blue Demons missed 11 straight from midway through the first half until Clarke hit his second with 10:43 to play.

Syracuse hit 41.5 percent but was just 1 of 13 from 3-point range.

"When both teams don't shoot well from the 3-point line, it's going to be a tough night," Boeheim said.

The undermanned Orange (15-7, 5-4) was saved by chiseled center Arinze Onuaku, who scored 22 points and added 9 rebounds.

"He had a great game," Clarke said of the 6-foot-9, 258-pound Onuaku. "Everything he shot went in, mostly layups. If we defended him better, it would've been a better game for us."

The much-ballyhooed Syracuse freshman duo of Donte Greene (14 points) and Jonny Flynn (6) hit just 7 of 26 shots.

Reserve guard Will Walker led the Blue Demons (9-11, 4-4) with 14 points but had only 4 in the second half. Mac Koshwal had 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Clarke finished with 10 points and 11 boards.

DePaul made three trips to the foul line, going 4-for-4. Syracuse sank 15 of 19.

"Both teams struggled, but they had a tremendous advantage at the free-throw line," DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said.

The lead changed hands eight times. DePaul's last advantage was 49-48 with 7:57 left.

Clarke hit 2 free throws to cut the Orange lead to 54-53 with 1:30 remaining. The Blue Demons nearly had a steal at midcourt, but Syracuse recovered and found 6-5 Paul Harris (10 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) in the post with 6-1 Cliff Clinkscales guarding him.

Harris got an easy score with a minute to play, and the Orange held on for its first Big East road win.

"Kids look at that as bad luck," Wainwright said. "One more step and we have a steal and a layup. That play turns out to be a post feed to Harris. As Cliff said later, he should've fouled him before (Harris) shot it.

"It was a combination of things we didn't do in the clutch. These are great learning things, but to win in this league you need to make those kinds of plays."

DePaul's inside game was weakened when forward Matija Poscic played just three minutes in the second half, going to the bench with lower back pain.

"He tried to gut it out," Wainwright said.