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Jerami Grant gets tangled up with a Carleton player during Friday's game in Ottawa.

(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)

Ottawa — Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim finally got the game he was looking for when he booked his Orange on a four-game exhibition tour of Canada.

After cruising to easy victories in its first two games north of the border, Syracuse had to rally from a double-digit deficit to defeat three-time defending Canadian national champion Carleton University here at the Canadian Tire Centre on Friday night.

Syracuse trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half, but the Orange came back to force the game into overtime and completed the comeback win 69-65 in front of 6,004 fans — many of them clad in orange.

"When you're down 15 against a good team on their homecourt at that point in the game, you're almost thinking are you going to get beat by 20?'' Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "We really dug down.''

The Syracuse rally came as the Orange was playing its third game in three days north of the border. Syracuse had trounced McGill University and Bishop's University in Montreal on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, before busing to Ottawa on Friday morning.

In addition, the Orange also staged much of its comeback with C.J. Fair on the bench. The senior forward, who led Syracuse in both scoring and rebounding last season, bruised his left leg during a scramble for a loose ball with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. Syracuse still trailed 52-46 at the time, but the Orange managed without its star.

Syracuse leaned heavily on two of its younger players during the late stages of the game. Tyler Ennis, SU's freshman point guard from Toronto, finished with 15 points, five steals and four assists in 44 minutes. He committed just one turnover.

Jerami Grant, a 6-9 sophomore, scored 15 of his game-high 18 points after halftime. Together Grant and Ennis scored 11 of Syracuse's last 15 points in the second half. Grant scored six of Syracuse's 10 points in overtime. Trevor Cooney, a sophomore guard, had the other four overtime points. He finished with 12 points for the game.

"We got tested a little bit and we proved to everybody that we can overcome adversity,'' Ennis said. "It was definitely a good game and a good learning experience.''

Syracuse trailed 47-32 midway through the second half, but a 14-0 run cut the deficit to 47-46 with just over nine minutes left in the game.

Cooney's mid-range jumper gave Syracuse a 56-54 lead with four minutes left. It was Syracuse's first lead of the game. Carleton hit a 3-pointer to re-take the lead. Ennis hit two free throws as SU inched back ahead. But Carleton scored inside.

For the next two minutes neither team scored. Grant hit one of two free throws, tying the game at 59l. Syracuse had to survive a final Carleton possession. The Orange forced the Ravens into a late miss.

In the overtime, Syracuse jumped out to a 66-61 lead. Carleton closed to within 66-65, but Grant hit two free throws with 22 seconds left to secure the win.

Syracuse's narrow escape was a positive indicator for the Orange. Carleton, which has won nine of the last 11 Canadian Interuniversity Sports national titles, was coming off a 13-point win over Wisconsin on Wednesday. Earlier this summer, the Ravens had recorded 26-point victories over Towson and Texas Christian.

"It's easy to go through plays and go through sets when we're up by 40,'' Ennis said. "But in a game where the other team plays good defense and the game's on the line, it's so much different. Going through this now is going to help us in the future.''

Carleton's bevy of perimeter shooters and the Ravens' ability to chase down their errant 3-point shots were too much for the Orange in the first half. The Syracuse defenders left Carleton's shooters open and in their haste to rush out on defense, the Orange exposed the offensive glass.

"Their ball movement against our defense is as good as anybody's,'' Boeheim said. "The first half we didn't rebound the ball. They out-rebounded us by 13 rebounds. We got almost nothing on the offensive glass.''

The Ravens went 10-for-40 from 3-point range. The Ravens out-rebounded Syracuse 29-16 in the first half, but the final board tally was just 52-49 in favor of Carleton.

Carleton dominated most of the first half. The Ravens jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, stretched it to 13-3 and took a 32-23 lead into the halftime break. The Ravens held Syracuse to just one made field goal in the game's first seven minutes.

"They've got a really tough, good basketball team,'' Boeheim said. "They pass it really well. They've got a lot of guys that can shoot it. They make you really work on defense.

"It was a really good game. It really will help us.''