A shirtless Johnny Flynn, just having received treatment for his bruised back, slowly walked to his locker where a group of reporters were staked out. He threw tiny white packs of ibuprofen pills next to his cell phone and sat down with a smile.

‘Game over. Adrenaline’s worn off,’ he said. ‘It’s back to the hard times.’

The injured Flynn was clearly the difference in Syracuse’s 88-72 win over Maryland Thursday night in the second round of the NIT with 14,768 fans at the Carrier Dome.

Two days after sitting out the entire second half against Robert Morris, Flynn scored 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He played 34 grueling minutes, repeatedly hitting the floor and sending a collective gasp through the crowd. He had seven assists, some of which Orange head coach Jim Boeheim called among his best of the season.

And he was all smiles. Mostly.

‘During the game, the only time I was really feeling it was the first TV timeout,’ Flynn said of the pain. ‘I came out, got a little tight. So I’m like, let me stand up and get myself moving around so I can keep my blood flowing.’

Flynn has five full days to rest until Syracuse’s (21-13) next game, the NIT quarterfinals, which is in the Carrier Dome on Tuesday against the winner of the Massachusetts-Akron game Saturday.

The Syracuse players said they could see it at times, but it didn’t look like Flynn’s bruised back, suffered during the Orange’s first-round exit from the Big East tournament against Villanova eight days ago, affected his play.

Flynn was 5-for-6 from the field in the second half, including two key 3-pointers. The second one put Syracuse up by nine points with 7:54 to go in the game, and the lead never shrank.

‘He looked as good as he’s played all year,’ Boeheim said. ‘He broke the game open, hit a couple big shots and then made a couple big, big pass plays when he got in the lane, found people. Really two of the best passes he’s made all year in the lane.’

Flynn led SU in scoring, but three others in double figures aided the cause. Paul Harris had another double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Donte Greene had 16 points and Arinze Onuaku had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

It was an all-around effort, but Syracuse needed every minute it got out of Flynn.

After holding a two-point lead following a back-and-forth first half, with a combined 48 points scored in the paint by both teams. There wasn’t much defense, long shooting or time to breath.

The lead changed hands eight times in the second half and Syracuse went on top for good on a Kristof Ongenaet layup with 12:40 left. Despite 44 total points from Maryland (19-15) inside men James Gist and Bambale Osby, Flynn had enough to power SU to a relatively easy double-digit victory in the end.

Flynn had a hand in four possessions during a two-minute span that bumped the Orange’s lead to nine. He assisted on a Harris layup, a Greene 3-pointer, hit a jumper of his own and then made the 3-pointer to push the Syracuse lead to 71-62.

Boeheim said the fact that Flynn practiced Wednesday, albeit limited, greatly helped his game Thursday night.

‘He had some practice time (Wednesday) which he hadn’t had,’ Boeheim said. ‘That was, I think, the difference tonight. As the game got going, he was tentative for a while, but once he got into the game I thought he hit a couple big shots in the first half and some really big shots in the second half.’

Flynn’s night wasn’t perfect. There was that one turnover that the freshman called silly and there was a brief period in the first half when Boeheim sat Flynn after a forced shot and a turnover.

And although the injury’s been diagnosed as a bruise, Flynn said the pain is constant. And yes, he was taken out of Madison Square Garden in a wheelchair eight days ago.

At the end of Thursday’s game, assistant coach Rob Murphy had to tell Flynn to relax a little – this after Flynn drove to the hoop and was fouled hard with Syracuse up 14 points.

‘That’s Jonny,’ was all Harris could say. He would know. As Flynn’s roommate, he’s seen him hobble around the pair’s South Campus apartment. But on the Carrier Dome court Thursday night, there was none of that.

Still, Flynn knew his destination afterward.

‘I wish I could go out and have fun with the guys,’ he said, ‘but I just need to rest up and get better soon.’

magelb@syr.edu

Published on March 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm