NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Marcus Sales put Syracuse in front with the last of his three scoring receptions Thursday and Syracuse held on to defeat Kansas State 36-34 in the Pinstripe Bowl.
The first bowl game played at the new Yankee Stadium featured the catches of Sales and the runs of Kansas State's Daniel Thomas, and was not decided until Syracuse recovered an onside kick with 73 seconds remaining.
Sales caught five passes for 172 yards. He had first-half touchdown receptions of 52 and 36 yards from Ryan Nassib and was on the receiving end of a 44-yarder in the fourth period that gave the Orange a 33-28 lead.
Syracuse extended its advantage to 36-28 on Ross Krautman's 40-yard field goal with 3:08 remaining, but the Wildcats came back on a 30-yard throw from Carson Coffman to Adrian Hilburn with 1:13 to go.
A two-point conversion attempt failed, however, and Syracuse clinched the win by recovering the ensuing kickoff.
Thomas scored three touchdowns for the Wildcats on runs of 51, 10 and 1 yards. Coffman threw for two touchdowns.
Syracuse had not won a bowl game in nine years, also defeating Kansas State in the 2001 Insight Bowl.
The Orange finished their season at 8-5 and boosted the Big East Conference's bowl record to 2-1 with three appearances remaining. Kansas State wound up at 7-6. The Big 12 Conference has lost three of its first four bowl games this season.
