A shirtless Jonny Flynn, having just 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 in front of 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 Flynn’s 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 will have had five full days to rest for Syracuse’s (21-13) next game, the NIT quarterfinals, tonight against Massachusetts at the Carrier Dome (7 p.m., ESPN).

The Syracuse players said they could see his discomfort 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, hindered 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.

Syracuse held 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, outside shooting or time to breath.

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.

‘(Flynn) 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 at the end of the game 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, the rumors are true; 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 ahead 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 24, 2008 at 12:00 pm