PITTSBURGH — Syracuse was missing its starting center. North Carolina-Asheville thought the Orange got help from three men in striped shirts.
    With Syracuse facing the kind of NCAA tournament history no team wants to make, the top-seeded Orange rallied for a 72-65 victory Thursday in the second round of the East Regional.
    Two calls by the officials had the sellout crowd of 18,927 at Consol Energy Center — except for those wearing orange — booing throughout the final minute but it didn't matter.
    Syracuse made it 109-0 for No. 1 seeds against No. 16s since the NCAA went to a field of 64 in 1985.
    "I don't think luck had anything to do with this game today," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, "and I think the better team won."
    The Orange were staring at NCAA tournament history. A No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed, and they were trailing North Carolina-Asheville with just over 6 minutes to play.
    "We gave it everything we had. We battled the best that we could," Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach said. "These guys are great. They deserved a better fate than they had today."
    Syracuse, which won the national championship in 2003, had already made negative history in the tournament, becoming the first No. 2 seed to lose to a 15 when it fell 73-69 to Richmond in 1991.
    The Orange managed to avoid adding another black mark by holding Asheville to one field goal over the final minute while they went 6 of 7 from the free throw line.
    Syracuse was playing without 7-foot center Fab Melo, who was declared ineligible for academic reasons by the school and will miss the tournament.
    "The fact that this game was close had nothing — nothing — to do with the center position," Boeheim said.
    Syracuse (32-2) will play eighth-seeded Kansas State in the third round Saturday. The Wildcats beat Southern Mississippi, 70-64.
    The Bulldogs (24-10), who talked Wednesday about pulling off the upset, were led by J.P. Primm's 18 points.
    They led 34-30 at halftime — the third 16 to do that — but the Orange took the lead for good with 6:17 left on a turnaround jumper by James Southerland, who had 15 points.
    "James has to continue to make the shots and I think he will," Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine said. "I'm happy for him because he's a big part of our offense and today he showed it."
    Southerland, who scored 13 points in the second half, had three of the Orange's five 3-pointers.
    "James came in, gave us a huge lift off the bench," Boeheim said of the 6-foot-8 junior.
    The Bulldogs got within three points three times in the final 1:04 but could get no closer as Syracuse made its free throws and the officials made a couple of controversial calls.