SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Jim Boeheim warned his Syracuse Orange about Bucknell — to no avail.

The Hall of Fame coach is now staring at the first two-game losing streak in November of his long career.

Bucknell added No. 17 Syracuse to its growing list of victims Tuesday night, beating the Orange 74-69. The Bison did it with a slowdown offense that went 14-for-17 from the floor — an impressive 82.4 percent — and 16-for-19 from the foul line in the second half.

"We have guys who have been around. I never thought that we panicked," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery, who has all five starters back from last year's overachieving team.

"When they hit some big ones and got the crowd in the game, it seemed like we were able to come back and score," he said. "We thought if we did certain things well, we could hang around."

Syracuse trailed most of the first half, but took advantage of the Bison's foul problems — four players had two apiece — during a late 10-3 run that gave the Orange a 28-27 halftime lead.

The second half was a seesaw affair that had seven lead changes and two ties. But when Demetris Nichols and Gerry McNamara hit consecutive 3-pointers in a 57-second span to put the Orange up 60-56 with 5:27 left, the Carrier Dome was rocking in anticipation of victory.

It never came.

Unfazed by the noise, the Bison put together a decisive 13-2 run. A steal and layup by Abe Badmus tied it at 60. After the Orange missed three straight times down court, Charles Lee stole the ball from center Darryl Watkins in the lane and sent Kevin Bettencourt on a fast-break layup that put Bucknell up 62-60 with 2:38 left.

Chris McNaughton then hit a hook in the lane and Bettencourt went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line to give the Bison a commanding 69-62 lead with 65 seconds left.

"We never take the underdog role," said Bettencourt, who led Bucknell with 20 points and hit two straight critical 3s in the second half just as the shot-clock buzzer was set to go off. "We think we can win every game."

And why not?

Last January, Bucknell, which plays in the Patriot League, handed 10th-ranked Pittsburgh its first loss of the season, snapping the Panthers' 48-game home winning streak against non-conference teams. Then in March they shocked third-seeded Kansas 64-63 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

On this night, it was the Orange's turn. Bucknell (2-0) won for the first time in nine meetings with Syracuse (3-2), which lost to Florida on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in the championship game of the 2K Sports College Hoop Classic.

"When we made our run, we just couldn't get separation," said Boeheim, in his 30th season at Syracuse. "Defensively, we just cannot stop people, and that's my biggest concern right now. It's early in the month, but I told the players if we play in the Big East at this level, I don't see us winning four games, and that might be a stretch. There's a reason nobody respected us in the polls. We're not that good."

Syracuse, which has committed 79 turnovers in its five games, was done in by more sloppy play. Freshman Eric Devendorf and sophomore Josh Wright each committed turnovers in a 20-second span in the final two minutes when the Orange were desperate for one last rally, and Watkins and Wright also committed fouls, sending Bettencourt repeatedly to the foul line. The Bison scored their final 10 points on free throws.

"We made careless turnovers, and they didn't," said McNamara, who had four assists and five of the Orange's 16 turnovers. "We're struggling right now and have to find ourselves. We gave them shots at the end of the shot clock when we had them stopped. If we play like we did tonight, we are not going to win four games in the Big East. Coach was a little generous."

Terrence Roberts had his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. But the 6-foot-9 power forward scored only one basket and pulled down one rebound after the break, and the 6-11 Watkins didn't get any rebounds despite playing all but two minutes of the second half.

"We can't play 20 minutes with Terrence and Mookie (Watkins) and get one rebound," Boeheim said. "Bucknell is a very good team, they're going to score points, they're going to get shots. But we cannot not do a better job inside on the boards."