At least Gerry McNamara went out on his own terms.
With a record Carrier Dome crowd cheering his every move, McNamara scored a game-high 29 points for Syracuse, but Allan Ray had 28 points to lead No. 4 Villanova to a 92-82 win on Sunday.
Randy Foye added 21 points for the Wildcats (24-3, 14-2), who earned a tie for the conference title with Connecticut and a second seed in the Big East tournament. It was the 10th loss in 13 games for the sinking Orange (19-11, 7-9).
"If I was going out with a loss, that's the way I wanted to go out -- fighting," said McNamara, whose pull-up 3-pointer with 6:35 left in the first half broke the Big East record of 178 career 3s in league play he shared with former Miami star Steve Edwards.
"It's tough to go out with a loss, but if I'm going to lose my last game in the dome, it's going to be to a top-five team, and they're as good as any team in the country," said McNamara, who has made 130 straight starts, tops in the nation. "I'm happy to say we stuck with them every step. It came down to the end, and they just had a little more."
Mike Nardi scored 12 points for Villanova, which made 13 of 31 3-pointers and outrebounded Syracuse 43-35.
"I'm proud of our guys, that our senior class can be called champions," Jay Wright said after his 100th victory as head coach at Villanova. "Over a 16-game schedule in this conference, to win a championship is a great accomplishment. I think we're playing our best basketball right now."
McNamara, one of the most popular players in Syracuse history, is the only one with 2,000 career points, 600 career assists and 250 career steals, and he was treated as royalty by the sellout crowd of 33,633, an NCAA on-campus record.
No. 9 Ohio St. 76, Purdue 57
No one can overlook Ohio State now.
Terence Dials scored 20 points and the ninth-ranked Buckeyes broke the game open with a 14-2 blitz to start the second half to beat Purdue 76-57, clinching their first outright Big Ten title in 14 years.
Dogged by a lingering NCAA investigation involving people no longer with the program, and coming the year before a banner recruiting class, Ohio State never was mentioned when the talk turned to preseason favorites in the Big Ten.
"No one gave us a chance," Dials said. "People across the country forgot about the Buckeyes it seemed. We didn't get the credit we thought we deserved. We wanted to go out and prove a lot of naysayers wrong."
J.J. Sullinger had 16 points for the Buckeyes (23-4, 12-4), who have won their last five games and are the top seed for this week's Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. Jamar Butler added 15 points.
"We've kind of flown under the radar to this point," Sullinger said, referring to the Buckeyes' late appearance in and slow rise in the polls. "But you've got to remember Ohio State now when you talk about [national] contenders."
In the waning moments, with the outcome long decided, the Ohio State student section chanted, "Big Ten champs!" and "Thank you, seniors."
"It's a great life lesson for these guys," second-year coach Thad Matta said. "If you commit to something and stay the course, anything's possible."
Despite a dreadful shooting day -- he missed his first 11 shots from the field -- Je'Kel Foster contributed eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals -- and got the loudest reception when he left the game with a minute and a half left.
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