The shouts started with 55 seconds left on the clock and Syracuse up by 16. A few students burst out of the Psi Upsilon fraternity house, screaming and jumping up and down.

“Let’s go SU!” shouted one student from where he stood on the top step of the house. “Final Four!”

When the game clock wound down to zero, the Syracuse University campus erupted with students, screaming and blasting music as SU booked its first trip to the Final Four since 2003 with a 55-39 win over Marquette on Saturday afternoon.

On Walnut Avenue, the street was a cacophony of noise as music blared from the fraternity and sorority houses lining the block. A car drove slowly down the road, honking loudly as a student in the passenger seat swung an orange sweatshirt over his head and smacked the side of the car.

Students jumped on top of a dark blue pick-up truck in front of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house and danced on top of it, shaking the truck so hard it looked like it might fall apart.

Andrew Arnstein marveled at the dancers on the truck as he walked toward Marshall Street after watching the game at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house. He said seeing the game with all of his fraternity brothers was one of the best experiences he has had at college so far.

“It was unbelievable,” said Arnstein, a sophomore public relations major. “This is part of the reason we all come to Syracuse.”

A few students took advantage of the good weather after the game and began throwing a football around Walnut Park. One of the students, Liza Posner, said she also watched the game at ZBT. She has two older brothers who attended SU, she said, and was texting them throughout the game.

“In the beginning of the game, we weren’t really with it,” said Posner, a sophomore advertising major. “But toward the end, we really got going.”

On Comstock Avenue, fraternities also took advantage of both the warmer weather and SU’s win. Students threw footballs and baseballs as others set up beer pong tables on porches.

Walking along Comstock after watching the game at Chuck’s Café, Ismail Pathan soaked in the party atmosphere. Wearing an SU jacket signed by former player Kris Joseph and others, Pathan, a senior finance major, said the game was the perfect way to cap his last year at SU.

“I live in Connecticut, so I was a little bitter about all my friends getting to see UConn win it two years ago,” he said. “But now, I’m just so excited. This is a great way to close it out.

Outside of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, Kari Monk, a sophomore communication and rhetorical studies major, said she had never seen people campus more excited.

In just the two years Monk has been at SU, the basketball team has played in the Elite Eight, but is now playing in the Final Four and has the chance to go even further, she said.

Said Monk: “They just keep getting better and better.”

Published on March 30, 2013 at 9:34 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta