This wasn’t how C.J. Fair envisioned his Senior Night going. Syracuse entered Tuesday’s 67-62 loss to Georgia Tech as 15.5-point favorites. This should have been a chance to get himself and his team back on track heading into the stretch run.

He found his own form again, but the rest of his team couldn’t. Baye Moussa Keita, the other contributing senior on the roster, didn’t even attempt a field goal. Fair and Keita left their final game in the Carrier Dome with a two-game home losing streak.

“It didn’t end how I wanted it to end,” Fair said. “My season isn’t over. I still have a chance to win my last game.”

The Orange honored Fair and Keita, as well as Nolan Hart and Russ DeRemer, with a ceremony 12 minutes before tip-off, but that was about all SU could do to honor the group that has made up one of the winningest classes in program history. Tyler Ennis scored 18 points, but no one else scored more than seven — other than Fair who tied a career high with 28 — and Syracuse suffered a second embarrassing home loss.

After the game, though, in the midst of his frustration, SU head coach Jim Boeheim did take a moment to reflect on the careers of his seniors.

“C.J.’s been one of the steadiest players we’ve ever had and Baye has been a tremendous, tremendous team player. He’s made big defensive plays,” Boeheim said. “We wouldn’t be where we are without him, what he’s done on the defensive end of the court.”

But despite Fair’s night, he couldn’t will the seniors to victory in their final game in the Dome.

“Senior Night is always tough. You have your guys who contributed for four years and this is their last home game and you always want to go out on a win on a bang,” SU guard Trevor Cooney said. “It is really unfortunate not to have that especially for guys like C.J. and Baye and what they have meant to this program.”

Published on March 5, 2014 at 1:54 am

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