The Palace Theatre screen shows the sold out crowd at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on Saturday night.

What was it like not being one of the 35,446 people jammed into the Carrier Dome on Saturday night to see Syracuse beat Duke 91-89 in overtime?

If you were one of the 680 folks packing the Palace Theatre on James Street, it was pretty darn fine.

The drama played out on the movie screen as the Orange was extended to an extra five minutes to remain undefeated at 21-0, setting the school record for the best-ever start for a season.

Orange-clad fans danced in the aisles, traded high fives across the rows, and didn’t have to face as much of a snarly traffic jam as those from the record crowd departing the dome up on the SU hill.

They were celebrating a game that lived up to the three months of hype that led up to it. In a season in which games live in the land of the 60s at best, these two teams each scored 78 points in regulation.

The big players played hugely. Syracuse senior C.J. Fair had the highest scoring game of his career with 28 points. So did Orange sophomore Jeremi Grant, with 24. Freshman Tyler Ennis was so steady with leadership and 14 points, he showed again why, like Carmelo Anthony before him, this might be a one-season-and-done Orange career for him.

As for Duke, its freshman, Jabari Parker, scored 15 points before fouling out, and was the Blue Devils’ man. Duke hit 15 three-pointers, from all over the court and in critical situations.

It was the best-played game in a long time. Certainly since Syracuse’s Final Four game last season, and the Orange fell short in that one to Michigan.

It was one heck of a way for sports fans to get ready for today’s Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, too.

I’ll be writing more about what the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s success means to Central New York on my weekly Wednesday blog for waer.org.

I’ll put more photos from Saturday night at the Palace up here that day, too, with the link to the waer.org post.