SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Jim Boeheim became the third Division I men’s coach to reach 900 victories as No. 3 Syracuse beat Detroit 72-68 on Monday night in the Gotham Classic.

Boeheim, 68 and in his 37th year at his alma mater, is 900-304 and joined an elite fraternity. Mike Krzyzewski (936) and Bob Knight (902) are the only other men’s Division I coaches to win that many games.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Boeheim’s college roommate, teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, and Roosevelt Bouie, a star on Boeheim’s first team in 1976-77, were in the Carrier Dome crowd of 17,902. Midway through the second half, fans were given placards featuring cardboard cutouts of Boeheim’s face with 900 victories printed on the back to celebrate.

Boeheim was presented a jersey encased in glass with 900 emblazoned on it.

“I’m happy. I’ve stayed around long enough,” Boeheim said at center court. “I was a little nervous.”

James Southerland had 22 points for Syracuse (10-0), which increased its home winning streak to 30 games, longest in the nation. Detroit (6-5), which lost 77-74 at St. John’s in the second game of the season and 74-61 at Pitt earlier this month, had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Orange point guard Michael Carter-Williams, who had 10 or more assists in four consecutive games and six altogether, finished with 10 assists and 12 points.

Juwan Howard Jr. and Doug Anderson each scored 18 points and Nick Minnerath had 13 for Detroit. Ray McCallum Jr., Detroit’s leading scorer at 19.4 points per game, finished with nine, while Jason Calliste had seven.

Southerland scored a career-high 35 points, matching a school record with nine three-pointers, in a victory at Arkansas in late November. He finished 5 of 8 from behind the arc against the Titans.

Syracuse led 40-21 at halftime, and was cruising midway through the second half when the public address announcer in the Carrier Dome invited fans to stick around for the post game celebration. That stoked the Titans to spoil the moment as the game wound down, and they made it worrisome for the hometown crowd.

Howard scored 11 points to key a 16-0 run, his two free throws pulling Detroit within 67-63 with 55.1 seconds left. But Carter-Williams hit three of four free throws to hold offthe Titans.

One of the keys to breaking Syracuse’s 2-3 zone is hitting three-pointers, and Detroit struck out in the first half. The Titans were 0 for 10 and the lone three they did make - by McCallum with just over six minutes left - was negated by a shot-clock violation.

The Titans went nearly seven minutes without a basket, and when they missed Southerland made them pay. He hit consecutive threes - from the wing and the top of the key - to boost the Syracuse lead to 27-13 with 7:25 left.

After Howard hit a jumper from the wing to snap Detroit’s scoreless drought, the Orange finished the half with a 13-6 run. The 21 points at halftime were a season low for the Titans.

C.J. Fair started the Syracuse surge with a layup and follow shot, Southerland hit two more threes to finish the half 5 of 6 from behind the arc, and Carter-Williams hit a three at the shot-clock buzzer with four seconds left.

It hardly mattered that Brandon Triche, the Orange’s leading scorer, had only one point. The Orange were 6 of 10 on three-pointers and shot 55.6 percent (15 of 27), and it seemed unlikely the Titans would deprive Boeheim of his milestone victory.

Detroit was 10 of 29 in the half and 28 of 60 for the game, finishing 3 of 18 from long range.

NO. 12 MISSOURI 102, S. CAROLINA ST. 51

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Jabari Brown, playing in his first game since Nov. 17, 2011, when he was a freshman at Oregon, scored 12 points and No. 12 Missouri beat South Carolina State.

Brown, 6-5, 205-pound guard, became eligible at the end of the first semester.

Phil Pressey’s jumper 17 seconds into the game gave Missouri (9-1) the lead for good. An 18-2 run midway through the first half gave the Tigers a 31-11 lead with 5:58 left.

Matthew Hezekiah led South Carolina State (4-7) with 14 points.

NO. 21 UNLV 62, UTEP 60

EL PASO, Texas - Bryce DeJean-Jones scored 12 points and Anthony Marshall added 11 for No. 21 UNLV in a victory over Texas-El Paso.

Jaques Streeter scored with 27 seconds left to cut UNLV’s lead to two points. DeJean-Jones had an opportunity to make it a two-possession game but missed two free throws with 15 seconds left.

Konner Tucker had a last-second opportunity for the Miners after taking an inbounds pass from the far sideline for a three-point attempt, which bounced up and off the rim.

Julian Washburn had 13 points and Tucker, playing in his first game at UTEP, added 12.

NO. 22 NOTRE DAME 74, IUPU-FORT WAYNE 62

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Pat Connaughton scored 18 points to lead No. 22 Notre Dame over IPFW on Monday night.

Connaughton more than doubled his 7.9 points-per-game average and had six rebounds and five assists.

Notre Dame (10-1) led 40-28 at halftime then opened the second half with a 9-5 run over the first 4:21, capped by a two-handed dunk by Jack Cooley off a full-court fast-break pass from Jerian Grant. The Irish extended their lead to 19 points on a layup by Garrick Sherman with 13:35 to play.

Cooley had 14 points and eight rebounds, while Scott Martin scored 13 points on 3-for-5 shooting from three point range for the Irish, who shot 52 percent for the game.

Luis Jacobo and Joe Edwards each scored 11 points for the Mastodons (5-7).

Connaughton was 7 of 9 from the field, repeatedly driving strong to the basket and taking his defenders off the dribble with apparent ease. His finger roll in the lane off an assist by Grant made it 23-14 with 8:24 left in the first half.

He hit a layup while drawing foul with five seconds left in the first half, then hit the free throw to increase Irish lead to 40-28.

Each time IPFW seemed ready to spark a run, Notre Dame answered.

Edwards’ floater in the lane cut the lead to 28-21 with 4:35 to go in the first half. But then Grant responded with a 10-footer in the lane 38 seconds later.

Sports, Pages 20 on 12/18/2012