Boston College’s long-standing rivalry with Syracuse maintained its hard edge as the teams transitioned from the Big East to the ACC.

Syracuse has dominated the series, but the Eagles snapped an 11-game losing streak against the Orangemen with an 80-75 victory before a mixed fan base of 6,611 on Tuesday night at Conte Forum.

BC improved to 13-8 overall, 4-6 in the ACC and avenged a 69-59 loss at Syracuse on Jan. 10. The Orange dropped to 14-7 and 5-5. BC enters its bye week and resumes ACC play against Florida State at home on Feb. 6

“This is my third year and we have never beaten them and we’ve talked about a breakthrough,” said junior guard Jaeden Zackery, who finished with 14 points.

BC shots a sizzling 60% from the floor with 10 made 3-point shots and 37 rebounds to offset 21 turnovers. Guard Claudell Harris Jr. came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points with five treys.

Power forward Quinten Post had 12 points and nine points, leaving him three shy of 1,000 on his career. The backcourt tandem of J.J. Starling and Judah Mintz scored 18 apiece for Syracuse.

“I knew it would be a battle, they are a very athletic team and a very long team,” said BC coach Earl Grant. “We played them three weeks ago and we remember that battle and we remember the results of that game.

“So, we were ready for this game, excited and we had two good days of preparation. We have been working everyday to improve and we are starting to see the fruits of our labor.”

BC closed the second half with a 14-0 surge and opened the second half with seven straight points to go up 44-30, its longest unabated run of the season. Syracuse coach Adrian Autry called timeout at 18:18 following a Zackery trey from the top of the key. BC led 49-37 into the first media timeout.

“In that stretch we didn’t turn the ball over that much so they weren’t getting transition baskets,” said Grant. “We were able to stop them from getting easy (baskets) and they had a hard time against our half-court defense.

“Our defense set that run. As well as we played offensively to get 21, they didn’t score so our defense catapulted that run.”

Cuse took advantage of a flurry of BC turnovers to cut the lead to 55-53 on a put back by Brown with 9:53 to play. Harris stopped the bleeding with a 3-ball from off the key to make it 59-53 into the third media timeout. The Harris Express followed with three treys and a drive to give BC a 72-59 lead with 4:15 to play.

“I was trying to stay strong, trying to stay tough and trusting myself and trusting my work,” said Harris. “It all starts with defense and if we are not getting stops we are not us.”

BC went up 78-69 on when McGlockton drove the baseline, but junior forward Benny Williams countered with a corner trey to make it a six-point game with 1:14 to play. Post iced the game with two from the line with 35 seconds to play.

“I thought the main thing was just us matching their physicality,” said Zackery. “The first time we played they were being physical and we let them do it, we didn’t fight back. There weren’t any major adjustments, we were just being more physical and did the things we have worked on this year.”

The opening minutes of the first half were tainted by bricks from the perimeter, missed bunnies in the paint and five egregious turnovers that left BC up 4-2 into the first media timeout.

The play improved after the break with a lead change and two ties between timeouts. Zackery drove the lane to give BC a 7-2 lead, but Cuse outscored BC 10-2 to take a 12-9 on a corner trey by J.J. Starling with 13:20 to play.

BC’s offense tanked, allowing Syracuse to take a 20-11 lead into the third media timeout. Sophomore guard Judah Mintz scored consecutive baskets on lightly contested drives through the lane.

BC cut the lead to 25-23 on a layup off the glass by Post, but the Orange responded with a 3-ball by Mintz and a pull up jumper in the paint by Starling. BC countered with a trey by Mason Madsen and a baseline dunk by Devin McGlockton to make it 30-28 into the final media timeout.

BC took the lead, 31-30, on a 3-ball from the top of the key by Chas Kelley with 2:50 to play. The Eagles initial surge morphed into a 14-0 run and BC went into the half leading 37-30.