SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- In a historic matchup of legendary coaches, Syracuse's John Gillon took center stage.

Gillon's 3-point bank shot at the buzzer lifted the Orange to a 78-75 victory over the 10th-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday night in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at the Carrier Dome.

Gillon tied the score at 75 with a layup with 37 seconds remaining. After Duke's Luke Kennard missed a jumper with about 8 seconds left that would have given the Blue Devils the lead, Syracuse's Tyler Lydon grabbed the rebound and tapped the ball to Tyus Battle, who found the speedy Gillon around the top of the key at the Duke end of the court.

Gillon raced up the floor and launched the game-winner a few feet beyond the arc and between three Duke defenders, including Grayson Allen.

"To be quite frank with you, the end of the game was not unexpected to me because we didn't manage the entire game, and the basketball gods do that," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I always believe in (the basketball gods). But if we played better, there wouldn't have been a last shot.

"But god bless (Syracuse) for hitting that (shot). How could it be more exciting for them, and it's terrific, but we could have done better."

Gillon's first thought as the ball bounced through the net?

"(Holy cow), I made that?" Gillon said. "I was really one-track minded today. I just really wanted to win, we needed it bad, so that was just my one focus."

As Gillon's shot went through, the Carrier Dome erupted, thousands of fans rushed the court and Gillon's teammates mobbed the fifth-year senior transfer from Colorado State, who earlier this season tied a game at North Carolina State with a last-second 3-pointer.

"I know John has made some big shots and we've been getting pretty lucky lately, so I had a feeling it was a good and he banked it in and I just went crazy," Battle said.

Krzyzewski (1,065 career wins) and Boeheim (901) are now 4-4 in head-to-head meetings. They are close friends, and Boeheim was one of the assistant coaches on Krzyzewski's U.S. Olympic team that captured the last three gold medals.

"As I get older I keep thinking they are the best wins but they probably really aren't the best wins," Boeheim said. "But this kind of feels like it. If we had lost this one we would have been in a lot of trouble (trying to make the NCAA Tournament), so this was one we had to get. I told Mike (Krzyzewski) that and he agreed, I helped you for three gold medals you can help me just a little bit."

Gillon led all scorers with 26 points on 9-for-14 shooting, and he had six assists with no turnovers. Battle added 18 points, while Lydon scored 11 points with nine rebounds.

ACC Player of the Year candidate Kennard led Duke with 23 points, while Jayson Tatum recorded his second double-double of the year with 19 points and 13 rebounds and Amile Jefferson chipped in with 14 points.

Syracuse (17-12, 9-7 in the ACC) snapped its three-game losing streak, while Duke (22-6 10-5 in the ACC) had its seven-game winning streak end in heartbreaking fashion.

"Gillon has hit big shots, Battle has hit big shots, so when it got down to the end, they've been in those situations before and they performed well," said Krzyzewski, who lost for the first time in six games since returning from back surgery.

Gillon and Battle scored 31 of their combined 44 points in the second half. With Duke's man-to-man defense thwarting Syracuse's 3-point shooting, Gillon and Battle created offense and got the Blue Devils' guards in foul trouble by driving to the basket.

"Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard are pretty darn good," Boeheim said. "They had 31 (combined points), and John and Tyus had 44. Those are pretty big numbers."

Allen picked up his fourth foul with 13:08 remaining, while Kennard was whistled for his fourth foul with 7:38 left. Reserve guard Frank Jackson also picked up his fourth foul with 8:06 left as the Duke guards couldn't keep up with Gillon and Battle.

"You just adjust and they have to be smarter," Krzyzewski said about the foul trouble. "We were playing with three guys with four fouls and that's just what happens in a game."

The score was tied eight times in the second half. Lydon's layup gave Syracuse a 71-70 lead, but Allen drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to give Duke a 73-71 advantage with 2:22 remaining. Battle's jumper knotted the score at 73, but Amile Jefferson sank a pair of free throws to push Duke ahead 75-73 with 1:29 left.

Gillon missed a layup with 1:09 remaining, but Lydon corralled Allen's missed 3-pointer and Gillon converted on the layup that tied the score at 75 and set up the dramatic ending.

"Our plan was to give it to John and have him use his speed to make a play," Lydon said. "He took care of business."

The Orange used a 7-0 spurt early in the second half to pull within two, 37-35. The Blue Devils pushed the lead back to five on Kennard's fourth 3-pointer of the game, but Battle scored 8 of Syracuse's 10 points in a 10-5 run that enabled the Orange to tie the score at 47.

"He was the difference, really," Boeheim said of Battle, a 6-6 freshman. "John played great, but there was that one stretch where (Battle) had eight or 10 points, something like that, and it was an unbelievable stretch."

The Blue Devils built a 33-25 lead at halftime despite shooting only .375 percent (12 for 32) from the floor -- well below their ACC-leading .487 percentage. Tatum made up for the cold shooting with a first-half double-double: 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting and 10 rebounds.

While Krzyzewski bemoaned the fact that Duke wasted an opportunity to build a bigger halftime lead, Gillon said he and his teammates knew they would have to change their offensive approach in the second half.

"I figured it out toward the end of the first half where they struggled defensively and I just felt like there wasn't an answer for me the second half," Gillon said.

The Orange will end their regular season with games at No. 7 Louisville Sunday and at home against Georgia Tech March 4. Duke concludes its regular season with games at Miami Saturday, at home against No. 19 Florida State Tuesday, and at No. 8 North Carolina March 4 in the game that could still decide the ACC regular-season champion.

NOTES: While Wednesday's crowd is the largest on-campus crowd of the college basketball season, it fell short of the NCAA on-campus record of 35,446 that was set at the two previous Duke-Syracuse games at the Carrier Dome in 2014 and 2015. ... After scoring 14 points, Duke F Amile Jefferson needs 8 points to become the ninth player under Krzyzewski with 1,000 points and 850 rebounds. ... Blue Devils G Luke Kennard has made at least one 3-pointer in 31 consecutive games, the longest streak among active ACC players and 25th-best streak in league history. ... Orange G John Gillon, who entered the game ranked third in the ACC in free throw percentage (.857), has made a Syracuse-record 43 consecutive free throws. It's the 14th-longest streak in ACC history. ... Boeheim denied a Sports Illustrated story that he may not follow Syracuse's exit plan to have him step down after next season. Boeheim told Syracuse.com that "the only thing (the reporter) got right in that story is the spelling of my name."