All five Syracuse starters scored in double figures led by Joe Girard III's 16 points, as the Orange held off visiting Boston College on Saturday afternoon for a 75-67 victory.

Syracuse (12-6, 6-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) claimed its sixth consecutive victory against Boston College (3-13, 1-9) and won for the eighth time in nine meetings between the longtime rivals.

Only eight players played for Boston College, which dealt with COVID issues in recent weeks. It lost its fourth consecutive game and has now dropped eight of the past nine.

Syracuse led wire-to-wire, but the Eagles cut the deficit to five points with 5:38 left in the second half.

Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj each made clutch free throws to push the lead back to double-digits.

Dolezaj and Alan Griffin each got into foul trouble in the second half, but they managed to stay in the game.

Griffin finished with 14 points and eight rebounds while Dolezaj had 13 points, four rebounds and three assists. Guerrier finished with 12 points and nine rebounds while Buddy Boeheim finished with 13 points and three assists.

The Orange avoided a resume-damaging defeat in a game that was much more competitive than their first meeting on Dec. 12 when the Orange drilled the Eagles 101-63.

Boston College was unable to close the gap further due to its long-distance shooting struggles. The Eagles made only 9 of 31 on 3-point attempts and shot 36.5 percent overall. BC went 4-for-14 in the second half as the Orange led by as many as 12 points.

Syracuse, which shot 48.1 percent overall, attacked the basket often and took 10 more free throw attempts than the Eagles, making 18 of 23 from the foul line.

Rich Kelly led Boston College with 14 points and three assists. Steffon Mitchell totaled 12 points and 10 rebounds. CJ Felder finished with a game-high 12 rebounds and nine points while Jay Heath added 12 points.

--Field Level Media