Jim Boeheim pointed to the Syracuse bench.

After calling a timeout, the head coach’s next move signaled for forward Tyler Roberson to have a seat after allowing two corner 3s in the first minute of the game.

But Boeheim was also pointing to the spot where the focal point of his offense, Rakeem Christmas, would spend 17 minutes of game time, presenting a larger obstacle for his Orange team than any defensive lapse would.

Christmas fouled out for just the third time this season and the first since Dec. 20. He played just 23 minutes, but Syracuse (14-5, 5-1 Atlantic Coast) survived, 69-61, over Boston College (8-9, 0-5) on Tuesday night before 23,781 in the Carrier Dome.

The Orange made it close by hitting just 8-of-16 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes and a lead that was once 18 — courtesy of a 31-5 finish to the first half — was whittled to six. But each of SU’s starters tallied at least 10 points, led by 17 from forward Michael Gbinije, to piece the win together in Christmas’ absence.

“When he’s not out there, we have to find ways to score and I think Mike and I did a good job of that tonight,” said guard Trevor Cooney, who finished with 15 points.

To erase BC’s early 12-4 lead, Gbinije scored seven to help knot the score at 13, then teamed up with Christmas to push the Orange ahead, 24-15.

The senior forward exited the game with his third foul at the 4:42 mark and SU ahead by just seven. But Syracuse closed out the half with an 11-0 spurt to take a 35-17 lead into halftime, as the Orange shot 51.9 percent from the floor to the Eagles’ 21.7 percent.

“I guess it brings some security to us,” said Gbinije, who made 5-of-7 in the opening frame. “It’s nice to be able to score and pick up some slack whenever somebody gets in trouble.”

When Christmas’ fourth foul sent him to the bench with 16:12 remaining on the second-half clock, BC’s Aaron Brown was at the line extending the Eagles’ run to 11-2 while cutting the Orange’s lead — which was 18 at the half — to nine.

But following his departure, the Orange pulled it together.

In the 10 minutes and 15 seconds that the big man watched from the sideline, point guard Kaleb Joseph scored six points, Gbinije netted six and Cooney chipped in five to account for all of SU’s points in that span. And by the time Christmas banked in his only basket of the half — a three-point play from the post — the Orange was up by 12.

Comfortably — or so it thought.

Suddenly the Eagles’ heaves were going in and the Orange’s attempts from the free-throw line weren’t. And it became a cycle.

“You’ve got to make better plays in that situation and we didn’t do that,” Boeheim said. “The idea is to protect the lead knowing Rak could be out at any time and I thought we did a pretty good job of that — we’re just missing free throws.”

BC guard Olivier Hanlan connected on a pair of 3s in the last 4:02, his teammates hit their foul shots and they watched as the Orange missed eight tries from the charity stripe in the last two minutes of the game.

A 12-point lead dwindled to six, but the Orange’s foul shooters split just enough of their attempts to extend the distance too far for the Eagles to overcome.

And although Christmas made his way to the handshake line from a somewhat unfamiliar spot, his teammates had ensured it’d be a victorious postgame routine.

“Coach said as soon as it happened that this was going to be a huge learning experience for us, this was going to be good for us,” Joseph said of Christmas’ foul trouble. “So I think the guys kind of welcomed that challenge.”

Published on January 20, 2015 at 9:13 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb