Orange survive scare

WASHINGTON )-Andy Rautins scored a season-high 26 points, and No. 5 Syracuse blew most of a 23-point lead before escaping with an exhilirating 75-71 victory over No. 10 Georgetown on Thursday night at the Verizon Center. The Orange (25-2, 12-2 Big East) never trailed in improving to 7-0 on the road and 6-0 against ranked teams. Coming off a home loss to Louisville, Syracuse built an 11-point lead in the opening 4 minutes and led 60-37 with 12:37 left. Thats when the Hoyas (18-7, 8-6) finally found their shooting touch - and the Orange went cold. The comeback started with a 10-0 run. After Rautins connected from beyond the arc, two more Georgetown baskets made it 63-51 with 7 1/2 minutes left. Georgetown closed to 71-70 with 1:10 remaining and had a chance to take the lead, but a shot by Jason Clark bounced off the rim. Kris Joseph then scored on a drive for Syracuse with 8.4 seconds left.