It’s 40 minutes of trapping and shot challenging, of closing off angles, of trusting teammates.

“We showed,” senior guard Brandon Triche said, “that defense wins games.”

Yes, the Orange D certainly does.

With a second suffocating performance at the East Regional, No. 4-seeded Syracuse shut down No. 3 Marquette 55-39 Saturday to earn coach Jim Boeheim his fourth trip to the Final Four — and first since a freshman named Carmelo Anthony helped win the 2003 NCAA championship.

“A tremendous, tremendous defensive effort,” Boeheim said.

Fittingly, a matchup between schools from the soon-to-break-apart, rough-and-tumble Big East became quite a struggle on the offensive end. Syracuse (30-9) was led by senior forward James Southerland’s 16 points. Michael Carter-Williams, a 6-foot-6 guard who is out front in the zone, was named the regional’s top player after accounting for 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, five steals and only one turnover Saturday.

Marquette (26-9) hadn’t scored fewer than 47 points all season — and, indeed, put up 74 in a victory over Syracuse on Feb. 25. But this time, Marquette kept turning the ball over, seeing its shots blocked or just plain missing.

The Golden Eagles’ 39 points were a record low for a team in an NCAA tournament regional final since the shot clock was introduced in 1986.

“They beat us from start to finish. We collectively tried everything we knew to try,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “It is the zone, and it is the players in the zone.”

Much like what happened Thursday in the regional semifinals, when Syracuse knocked off top-seeded Indiana by limiting it to a season-low output, too.

“I don’t think we’ve played as good defensively as these last two games,” Triche said. “We held some good teams down.”

Marquette’s 39 points Saturday were the fewest in the shot clock era for an NCAA tournament regional final. Here’s a look:
Points Team Year
39 Marquette (Syracuse, 55-39) 2013
45 Memphis (UCLA, 50-45) 2006
47 Oklahoma (Syracuse, 63-47) 2003
50 Navy (Duke, 71-50) 1986
51 Arizona (Utah, 76-51) 1998
— Associated Press

All told, Marquette made only 12 of 53 shots — 23 percent — and was 3 for 24 on 3-pointers. Vander Blue, who carried Marquette to the round of eight, was held to 14 points on 3-for-15 shooting.

“They cover ground really good. You’ve got to get the ball in the middle, you’ve got to play inside out, you’ve got to get to the free-throw line and wear them down with the 3-pointer when you can,” Blue said. “They’re really good at what they do in that zone.”

Consider these numbers through four games in the tournament: Syracuse is averaging 6.5 blocks and 10.8 steals, while forcing opponents into 29 percent shooting, including 15 percent on 3-pointers.

“We couldn’t get one to drop in from up close,” said Marquette’s Jamil Wilson, who was 0 for 5 on 3-pointers, 1 for 9 overall. “We couldn’t get one to drop in from outside.”

The next team to try to solve that defense will be the winner of Sunday’s South Regional final between Florida and Michigan. Syracuse is 3-0 in national semifinal games under Boeheim.

And to think: Exactly three weeks ago, in this very same building, Syracuse wrapped up its final Big East regular-season schedule before heading to the Atlantic Coast Conference with a bad-as-can-be performance in a lopsided loss to Georgetown. Syracuse’s 39 points that day were the Orange’s tiniest total in a half-century.

That was Syracuse’s fourth loss in a span of five games, a stumbling way to head into tournament play.

That night, Boeheim forgot to adjust his alarm clock to account for daylight saving time, and so showed up late for a pre-practice coaches’ meeting. His players, turned out, had organized their own session without supervision, starting the work it would take to get going in the right direction.

“I watched them for a few minutes and it was really a good thing. I thought our practices were really good after that,” Boeheim said. “You can turn things around in this game.”

Since then, Syracuse has won seven of eight.

“When you bounce back like that, that says a lot about your kids, your team and your character,” Boeheim said. “This is a heck of a bounce back.”

And the secret to success? Defense, naturally.

“We got the right personnel for each key position,” C.J. Fair said. “We got big long guards, we got big long forwards that can cover ground and our centers do a good job holding down the inside.”

Because of that, Syracuse really needed only one run on offense in the second half, making five shots in a row during a spurt that gave it a 41-28 lead with 9½ minutes left.

Last season, Syracuse fell a victory short of the Final Four, losing to Ohio State in the round of eight.

“We wanted to get over the hump,” Southerland said. “That’s what I told the guys: We’ve still got two more to go.”

With President Barack Obama — a basketball fan who picked Indiana to win the title — and NFL Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins sitting in the crowd, Syracuse harassed Marquette into missing 14 of its first 15 tries from beyond the 3-point arc.

Marquette started 1 for 10 overall on field-goal tries, with Blue’s 3-pointer about 1½ minutes in the only make. He celebrated as though it came at the end of the game, not the outset, punching the air and tapping defender Triche on the back while heading to the other end of the court.

After Blue’s 3, Marquette missed its next seven shots. There would be other such stretches. Six misses in a row. Six misses in a row. Even nine in a row.

The Golden Eagles also went nearly 6½ minutes without a single field-goal attempt in the first half. Forget about putting the basketball through the net; Syracuse was so smothering, Marquette did not even manage to shoot.

When Southerland hit a 3, off a pass and screen by Carter-Williams, the Orange led 24-18 at halftime.

After helping cut down the net to celebrate Saturday, Southerland was asked whether he thought this sort of thing was possible when his team was leaving the same arena on March 9 after losing meekly to Georgetown.

“We just did a good job of recovering from that,” Southerland explained, “and not sulking.”

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Both were huge breaks for the Miami Heat.

James scored 28 points, Wade scored 11 of his 24 in the final five minutes – when Miami needed him most – and the Heat extended the NBA’s longest current winning streak to 11 games, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-105 in a back-and-forth matchup Sunday night.

The Heat blew a 22-point second-half lead, then rallied from eight down with 5:16 left.

“We’re a veteran ballclub and we’ve been in every situation that an NBA game can offer us,” James said. “We don’t get too high, we don’t get too low, we just play the 48 minutes out and see where it takes us.”

Dion Waiters scored 26 points, C.J. Miles added 19 and Kyrie Irving scored 17 for Cleveland, which outscored Miami by a stunning 30 points over a 17-minute stretch of the second half, yet still came up empty.

The Cavaliers are now 1-8 against the Heat since James signed with Miami in July 2010.

“We had a very good chance against a very good basketball team, the world champions, and we lost the game because of mental mistakes,” Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. “That’s just something that we can’t have happen again.”

In fairness, it wasn’t just mental mistakes that doomed Cleveland late. There was a bit of luck involved for the Heat.

Miami was up by two and held possession with 1:03 remaining. The shot clock was running down and Chris Bosh was open to try a 16-footer from the right wing. As Bosh was about to release, James got inexplicably free under the basket, thrusting both his arms skyward. Bosh threw him the pass — and James, enjoying the best shooting season of his career, did the unthinkable: He missed the easy one.

This is where the luck comes into play.

The rebound found its way back to Bosh, the Heat ran down another shot clock, and Wade got loose for a two-handed dunk that pushed Miami’s lead to 105-101 with 24.4 seconds left.

It was a double-whammy for Cleveland. Miami scored and took nearly 40 seconds off a dwindling clock in the process.

“Hey, I’m a smart player. That’s what basketball IQ is all about,” James said afterward, unable to hold back a sly grin. “I have no idea how I blew that layup. But it did work out for us. Got an extra possession, D-Wade was able to turn the corner and get a slam.”

Said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra: “I liked that play.”

Wade started what turned into a 16-4 run with a fadeaway with just under 5 minutes to go, then added a three-point play on the next Miami possession to cut the Cavs’ lead to 97-94.

And after Irving missed a layup with 1:35 left, Wade got the rebound and set up Battier for a 3-pointer that put Miami on top again — and for good.

“I thought that we had the game,” Cavaliers forward Alonzo Gee said.

Sure looked like that was the case, after a ridiculously good third quarter.

Down 68-46 early in the third, the Cavaliers looked finished — last-place team, on the road, against the reigning NBA champions who just happened to have the league’s longest current winning streak.

Midway through the third, Miami’s lead was still 17.

With two minutes left in the period, the cushion was 10.

By the start of the fourth, it was nonexistent.

The C.J. Miles Show lasted for all of 63 seconds. And they were a scintillating 63 seconds.

It starts with 1:35 left, a 3-pointer from Miles getting the Miami lead down to seven. Then he got a rebound, came downcourt and connected on another 3-pointer. Lead down to four. Another stop by the Cavs on one end, then another 3-pointer for Miles on the other — that one coming both with him drawing a foul from Chalmers, and with Spoelstra getting hit with a technical from referee Ed Malloy for arguing.

Miles made the technical free throw to tie the game, the free throw for the Chalmers hit to put the Cavs ahead, and they carried that 82-81 lead into the fourth, having closed the quarter on a 36-13 run.

“Guys just finally decided to start playing,” Miles said.

Miami used a 23-4 run in the first half to take what looked like a commanding 42-22 lead — with more than 9 minutes left until the break. And after Cleveland got within seven, Miami answered with another burst.

James didn’t miss in the final 4:29 of the half, scoring 10 points on a 4-for-4 run from the floor and fueling what became 16-5 spurt that gave Miami a 64-46 lead going into the locker room. And for good measure, Miami got the first two baskets of the second half, pushing the lead to 22, the biggest of the night.

Over, right?

Not even remotely close. Not until the final frantic seconds, as the Heat not only extended their win streak but won for the fourth time in five nights.

“We found a way,” Wade said. “I felt like in the first three quarters, I couldn’t move. But in the fourth, you just find it. … We just turned that other switch on.”

Game notes

Miami’s two wins over Cleveland this season, both at home, have come by a combined six points. … The Cavs were without Daniel Gibson (personal) and Omri Casspi, who remained hospitalized in Orlando after surgery to remove his appendix. … Heat F Mike Miller (ear infection) was back with the team Sunday, though did not play. “He can’t hear anything we’re saying,” Spoelstra quipped before the game. … The Heat held a moment of silence pregame for Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, the moment ending with warm applause from the crowd.

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