Paul Harris never doubted Jonny Flynn’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was going in. Why would he? Syracuse had battled from seven points down with 47 seconds left, and its best player was standing all alone in the corner with an uncontested look to tie the score in the game’s final moments.

The stage was set perfectly for Flynn to complete an improbable comeback. Of course, Harris was sure the shot would fall.

Flynn’s 3-pointer bounced high in the air and fell to the ground with a thud as 26,879 fans in the Carrier Dome watched with silence and disbelief. That’s when the dream ended for the No. 24 Orange (19-8, 7-7 Big East) in No. 12 Villanova’s 89-86 win Sunday afternoon. In an instant, the possibility of magic had become only a fantasy.

‘Jonny had a wide-open 3,’ Harris said, slowly shaking his head as he spoke. ‘I couldn’t believe – I just knew we were going to overtime.

‘Just back rim. Nothing you can do.’

Flynn’s miss was one of many chances for Syracuse down the stretch, in which the Wildcats (22-5, 10-4 Big East) committed three costly turnovers in the final minute to almost fumble the game away. Villanova held a steady five- to seven-point lead for much of the second half, never letting the Orange slice the deficit.

Syracuse went into a full-court trap defense that seemed to befuddle the Wildcats. First, Scottie Reynolds lost the ball with 59 seconds remaining, but Andy Rautins missed a 3 with a chance to cut the lead to two. On the next possession, Reggie Redding traveled on the baseline trying to break the press, but Rautins missed another 3.

Rautins eventually fouled out with 17 seconds remaining, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field. But none of the makes were as important as the two straight he missed at the end – shots SU head coach Jim Boeheim called ‘really good looks.’

‘My legs started to get a little bit heavy late in the game, a little cramped,’ Rautins said. ‘There’s no excuses. They were still good looks at the basket, at least one or two of them were, and I wasn’t able to knock them down.’

Despite those shots, Syracuse still had ample opportunities to get back in it. Another Reynolds turnover, an Eric Devendorf layup and a couple missed free throws by Villanova gave the Orange a chance to tie the game with 7.9 seconds left.

Devendorf tried a 3 from the corner off the inbounds pass, but the ball was blocked by Villanova’s Corey Stokes. Harris snagged the rebound, quickly ran back to the arc and launched a 3 of his own, which missed badly. The ball bounced directly to Kristof Ongenaet, who flipped a pass out to a wide-open Flynn in the other corner, who missed as time expired.

After the game, Boeheim said Flynn was sick during the game and missed two days of practice earlier in the week. Flynn was not available for comment.

‘We battled about as hard as we could battle at the end to come back and give ourselves a chance,’ Boeheim said. ‘We forced three turnovers against a tremendous ball-handling team and almost were able to take advantage of it.’

For most of the game, it seemed hard to believe Syracuse would ever be in that position. Villanova shot 32-of-61 from the field, including 7-of-15 from m the 3-point range. The Wildcats shot better from deep than the Orange did overall. It was similar to the last time these teams played, when Villanova put up 102 points in a 17-point victory on Feb. 7 in Philadelphia.

Like in that game, the Orange played well on offense Sunday, poorly on defense. The Wildcats had six players in double figures, led by forward Dwayne Anderson’s 22 points.

Despite all of that, Syracuse had three shots at the end of the game to send the game to overtime. Flynn’s miss was simply the end of a frustrating sequence in a disappointing loss.

‘There’s nothing you can do now. He just missed the shot,’ Harris said. ‘If I could have anybody else on the team shooting a wide-open 3 like that, it’d be Jonny. It just missed.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on February 22, 2009 at 12:00 pm