WASHINGTON — For 39 minutes and 54 seconds, they jostled for the lead. For momentum. For control of their own NCAA Tournament destinies.

Syracuse led early. Pittsburgh led for most of the game. The Orange erased a 12-point deficit, in 2 minutes and 22 seconds, to tie the game with 1:58 left. The Panthers used two makes from James Robinson to build a four-point lead. SU’s Michael Gbinije hit a 3 to cut that lead to one. Pitt’s Sheldon Jeter missed a free throw to give Syracuse a shot to win.

The game — and possibly the Orange’s NCAA Tournament chances — fittingly boiled into a single play. Into 6.6 seconds. Into Trevor Cooney’s hands.

“I should have drove,” Cooney said, his eyes staring at the blue carpet in a hushed Syracuse locker room. “… I should have drove.”

Instead he caught the in-bounds pass from Malachi Richardson, took off down the left sideline and rose up for a leaning 3 as time expired. The shot sailed left, nicked the side of the rim and fell to the Verizon Center court. Pittsburgh’s (21-10, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) bench streamed onto the court, celebrating a 72-71 ACC tournament win on Wednesday that conceivably puts it on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Orange (19-13, 9-9) slowly walked toward the tunnel behind its bench, the first steps in a long four-day wait for an unpromising Selection Sunday.

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The contest had been called an unofficial Tournament play-in game, and SU finished inches wide of a resume-making win.

“Being in the position that we are, I think there are a lot of teams in ‘play-in games’ that are thinking that,” Cooney said of whether Syracuse approach Wednesday as a must-win game. “It was tough. I mean we’re a good team and we’ve proven that throughout this year, and we’ll see moving forward.”

After a 5-0 Pittsburgh run erased Syracuse’s latest comeback attempt, the Orange trudged into a timeout down 12 with 4:18 left in the game. Cooney, who played a season-low 24 minutes and sat most of the second half, had a white towel around his neck and tried to pick up his teammates with spirited high-fives. Tyler Lydon stared at the big screen hovering over the court, which was replaying Jamel Artis’ deep 3 on the previous possession. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim made an adjustment to give his team a puncher’s chance.

The Orange jumped into a full-court press. Pittsburgh shakily broke it at first, but then committed a pair of turnovers that allowed the Orange to claw within a possession. And when the Panthers finally got into its halfcourt offense on the next play, Tyler Roberson raced in front of a cross-court pass and a Michael Gbinije dunk tied the game 68-68 with 1:58 remaining.

SU assistant coach Gerry McNamara jumped off the bench, pumped both fists then spread out his arms to keep the Orange bench from spilling onto the court. The 12-2 run forced Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon to briskly walk toward the scorer’s table and take a timeout. All else in the past, the game was either team’s for the taking.

“It was a tremendous comeback,” Boeheim said. “I can’t say enough about our effort. When you’re down 11 or 12 points with not much time on the clock, it was a huge effort in that last couple minutes.”

The Orange regained possession but a Franklin Howard turnover led to a transition layup for Robinson. On Pittsburgh’s next possession, Robinson created space on the right wing and sunk a mid-range jumper to bump the deficit to four. It seemed that Syracuse was finished once again — but a Gbinije 3 and missed free throw by Jeter stretched the drama out for one more play.

Boeheim wanted the ball to go to Gbinije. Pittsburgh doubled him on the in-bounds play and Richardson found Cooney instead. Cooney shook off a defender but couldn’t find the bottom of the net.

“I know Coach wants us to go to the basket, but at the same time it’s a Trevor Cooney 3 at the end of the game,” said Gbinije, who finished with a team-high 24 points. “I don’t know, I don’t really have a problem with it personally. He can make that shot, he’s very capable, it’s just unfortunate that he missed.”

Now all Syracuse can do is wait, while conference tournaments around the country shape the NCAA Tournament bracket, and hope its name is called come Sunday. It had a chance to all but guarantee that on Wednesday, but a third loss to Pittsburgh on the season could very well produce the opposite result.

“I’m not on the committee,” said Boeheim, 10 minutes after Dixon sat in the same chair and said his team is in “good shape” to make the field of 68.

“Every coach in the country that’s got any kind of record thinks they should get in the tournament. What do you want me to say?”

Published on March 9, 2016 at 2:32 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse