SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuses streak lives on -- barely. With their key players struggling, the top-ranked Orange used their defence to remain unbeaten, edging North Carolina State 56-55 on C.J. Fairs layup with 6.7 seconds left Saturday night. Rakeem Christmas started the winning sequence with a steal in the lane off a trap in the left corner, and Fair finished it with a layup in transition. "We got out of it by making a good play at the end," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. "We were able to make some good plays finally at the end, and one big play." The start of the game was pushed back four hours because of a snowstorm that wreaked havoc along the eastern seaboard. N.C. State did not land in Syracuse until Saturday afternoon. The teams Twitter account announced the Wolfpacks arrival at 3:07 p.m., seven minutes later than the original scheduled tip-off. It turned out to be worth the wait, tight all the way through a frantic finish full of missed opportunities. "Theyre terrific," N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. "Obviously, when you have a year like theyre having, when youre undefeated youre going to have some close ones, some not-so-close ones. We just tried to prepare for them as best we could and I thought our guys did a great job." Ralston Turner missed a 3 for N.C. State with 2:45 left with Syracuse clinging to a one-point lead, and then Fair was off on a hook driving across the lane. After N.C. States Anthony Barber hit the side of the backboard with a baseline jumper, Jerami Grant missed a spinning drive in the lane for Syracuse. Freshman point guard Tyler Ennis of Brampton, Ont., so cool and collected all year, then showed hes human, fouling Turner while shooting a 3, and he made all three free throws to give the Wolfpack a 55-53 lead with 62 seconds left. Fair sank 1 of 2 foul shots with 41.4 seconds remaining and N.C. States Desmond Lee then lost the ball out of bounds when he was double-teamed at midcourt. Ennis negated that turnover with a charge with 14.7 seconds left, but the Wolfpack couldnt close it out. Wolfpack star T.J. Warren was fouled in the back by Trevor Cooney and his shot went in, but the basket was waved off. The referees ruled the infraction occurred before the shot, forcing N.C. State to inbound the ball and setting up the winning trap in the corner. "That should have counted," Gottfried said. "That was a made basket to put us up three with T.J. going to the line to go up four. That changed things." Christmas had 14 points and set career highs with 12 rebounds and seven blocks as Syracuse earned its 10th single-digit win despite shooting 35.2 per cent. Grant had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Fair scored 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting. "We keep our composure all the time," Christmas said. "We dont let anything get to us." After Fairs winning layup, Warren missed from the top of the key on one last try for N.C. State. Warren finished with 23 points, Kyle Washington had 14 and Turner 13 for the Wolfpack. Despite its torrid season, Syracuse (25-0, 12-0) is clinging to a half-game lead over Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Oranges start is the third-best in ACC history, behind only North Carolina State (27-0) in 1973 and North Carolina (32-0) in 1957. North Carolina State (16-9, 6-6) was looking for its seventh win over the nations No. 1 team. It got its last one just over a year ago, beating Duke 84-76. The Wolfpack, who had won five of six, shot 39 per cent (22 of 56) from the field. Syracuse was coming off a dramatic last-second victory at No. 25 Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Ennis hit a 3-pointer from 35 feet as time expired to lift the Orange to a 58-56 road win. But the hostile Carrier Dome crowd of 31,572 didnt seem to faze the Wolfpack, who used Warrens big effort to hang right with Syracuse. He scored six straight points to start the second half and Washingtons hook in the lane gave N.C. State a 34-30 lead. Syracuse tied it at 34 on a slam by Christmas off an air ball by Fair from the right corner, and foul trouble on the Wolfpack hurt their chances. Grants follow off a miss by Christmas gave Syracuse its first lead of the second half at 40-39 with 9:19 left. There were seven ties and seven lead changes in the opening half, and the Wolfpack had the biggest advantage at 26-22 after a driving backdoor layup by Warren. A spinning drive through the lane and layup by Fair and a fast-break dunk by Cooney off a Wolfpack turnover in the closing 2:11 made it 26-26 at the break. It was Syracuses fourth crowd of more than 30,000 this season. Thats the most in any single season since Syracuse had six Carrier Dome crowds of more than 30,000 in 1990-91. Cheap Vapormax 2 China . Especially after he got ejected. "How many innings was that?" he wondered. Vapormax Clearance . Listen to the Rangers vs. Kings live on TSN Radio starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. You can also stream the post-game press conferences live on TSN. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-v...arance.html.com) - Fair Grounds commences its road to the Kentucky Derby Saturday with the 71st running of the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes. Vapormax Womens Clearance . Coaches are now allowed to challenge both called and potential defensive pass interference fouls under certain conditions. Vapormax Flyknit Clearance .com) - Longtime Senators star Daniel Alfredsson returned to Ottawa on Thursday to officially announce his retirement.SAN DIEGO -- Miguel Montero and the Arizona Diamondbacks are moving up. Montero hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, lifting the Diamondbacks past the Padres 3-1 on Saturday night and out of last place in the NL West. The Diamondbacks started the season 8-22. With the win, they moved percentage points ahead of the Padres in the standings at 35-48. "I guess its good to get out of last place," Montero said. "I hope we continue like that and see where we are going." Montero struck out against Eric Stults in his first at-bat but connected for his 11th home run next time up. The homer came on a changeup, something he had missed on in his earlier at-bat. When Stults tried to fool him later, Montero was ready. "I put a good swing on that one," he said. "It was middle, middle-in, and sometimes those are pulled foul. But it stayed fair so I guess I stayed inside the ball very good." Josh Collmenter (6-5) pitched 5 1-3 innings, giving up one run and five hits as Arizona won consecutive games for the first time since June 7-8 against Atlanta. Addison Reed worked the ninth inning for his 19th save in 22 chances. He was the fourth Arizona reliever, a group which didnt allow a hit or run over the final 3 2-3 innings. "I kind of wished I would have gone deeper in the game," Collmenter said. "But the bullpen did a great job tonight." Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson saluted his bullpen as well, and noted it was a typical game at Petco Park. "Its hard to score in this park and we played just well enough to win," he said. It was difficult for Padres manager Bud Black to accept the loss, the Padres third straight defeat. "One bad pitch," Black said of Stults offering to Montero. "Tried to get a changeup down and away and he just missed his spot." Stults (2-11) became the majors leader in losses, with an NL-high 5.36 ERA. He also went 5 1-3 innings and yielded three runs -- two earned -- while giving up just three hits. Stults walked three for the second straight game and stuck out two in losing his career-high sixth consecutive start. Paul Goldschmidt was aboard for Montteros homer, after walking and reaching second on a botched double-play attempt.dddddddddddd Martin Prado grounded to Chase Headley, but his throw to second baseman Alexi Amarista was high, with Goldschmidt being safe. Amarista retired Prado at first, a play which was challenged by Gibson but upheld. "I just got underneath it a little bit and it sailed," Headley said. "Lexi did a great job to make a play and get an out still." When Stults hit Cody Ross right after Montero homered, he was pulled in favour of Alex Torres. He prevented further damage by getting Gerardo Parra and Collmenter on grounders to first base. Matt Stites relieved Collmenter in the sixth inning, and walked Cameron Maybin to load the bases with two outs. But Rene Rivera, who had two hits, struck out. The Diamondbacks tied the score in the third inning, thanks in part to an error by Rivera. Ender Inciarte singled and stole second, advancing to third when Riveras throw was off line. Inciarte scored on Prados one-out sacrifice fly. Tommy Medica drove in the games first run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. Chris Denorfia opened the inning with a double and took third on Seth Smiths grounder to first base. The Padres threatened in the fifth inning when Rivera led off with a single and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Everth Cabrera. But Amarista flied out and Stults struck out. NOTES: Diamondbacks SS Chris Owings remains out of the lineup with a sore left shoulder. Owings is expected to have it examined on Monday. . OF Mark Trumbo has started to run the bases in his comeback from a broken left foot. . Gibson had no update on when RHP Bronson Arroyo (sprained right elbow) would return. . Padres OF Carlos Quentin (sore left shoulder) is likely unavailable until next week. . RHP Andrew Cashner (sore right shoulder) has yet to resume throwing. . The Padres had gone eight straight games without allowing a home run before Monteros two-run blast. . Diamondbacks RHP Michael Bolsinger (1-3, 4.78) faces Padres RHP Odrisamer Despaigne (1-0, 0.00) in Sundays series finale. ' ' '