NEW YORK – It wasn’t surprising to see Syracuse’s backcourt score the team’s last two buckets of the game. SU’s point guard received a pass, leaped across the paint and scored using the rim as a shield to the oncoming defender.

The next trip down, the Orange’s shooting guard drained a 3 to cap an 87-58 win over the Red Storm. Not a big deal, right? Just another big game from the prolific backcourt of Jonny Flynn and Eric Devendorf.

Wrong.

The backcourt duo this time: walk-ons Jake Presutti and Brandon Reese.

The fact head coach Jim Boeheim cleared his bench showed what type performance Syracuse (20-8, 8-7 Big East) put on for the 11,148 in attendance at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. With the win, Boeheim breaks a Division I record for most 20-win seasons in a career (31).

‘It was just fun to come and see Jake Presutti come in and hit a 3,’ SU forward Paul Harris said. ‘Brandon Reese, Kris Joseph and Sean Williams getting time. Things like that we haven’t had that in so long. I don’t even remember the last game all those guys got in the game. To see that happen just shows the game that we played.’

But it was the starters who allowed the bench to see playing time in the second half. SU opened the game with a near-flawless first half, heading into the locker room up, 39-18.

Through the first 14 minutes of play, the Orange shot the Red Storm (13-15, 4-11) out of the building. SU shot at a 75 percent clip and 60 percent from beyond the arc. Syracuse concluded the half shooting 65 percent form the field and 50 percent from deep.

As productive as Syracuse was offensively, its defense suffocated the Red Storm’s hopes of duplicating the Orange’s output. SU held St. John’s to 27 percent from the field in the first half and 20 percent from deep. In total, SJU netted seven field goals, 10 fewer than the Orange.

‘I thought we played as well offensively and defensively in the first half tonight as we’ve played all year long,’ Boeheim said.

The first half stampede was orchestrated by Flynn. SU’s starting point guard finished with a game-high 21 points, 13 coming in the first half. After a dunk, he stared into the crowd, pointed and saluted. Later in the half, he broke Quincy Roberts’ ankles, leaving him on the floor to view the pull-up jumper Flynn went on to make.

When he wasn’t scoring, he was distributing. He dished four assists, equaling the amount tallied by his teammates, and one more than the entire Red Storm roster.

‘Jonny made some shots in the first half that were backbreaking kind of shots,’ Boeheim said. ‘He was defended pretty well and was still able to get his shot up and make it.’

Syracuse showcased its dominance to close out the half. In the final 11 minutes, SJU converted on only three shot attempts and didn’t make a shot in the final 3 minutes, 45 seconds. The drought allowed SU to close the half on a 7-0 run, pushing its cushion to 21.

‘Today, like I said, in the first half we came out aggressive, we got a lot of deflections, we got our hands on the ball and we got a lot of transition buckets, and that set us up for the second half,’ Devendorf said.

In the final 20 minutes, the Orange outscored the Red Storm by eight, but allowed the SJU to shoot 51 percent, while SU shot 65 percent.

But the final five minutes resembled more of an NBA All-Star game than a typical physical Big East contest. The teams combined to attempt five alley-oops in the final five minutes. Not to mention the five uncontested dunks the two teams threw down during the same span.

It was a fitting ending to a game in which the entire Orange bench, consisting of the starters, nearly ran out onto the court in celebration as Reese and Presutti made their shots down the stretch. After a rough patch of frustrating Big East clashes, SU finally had ‘fun.’

‘It was good to come out here and switch roles you get on the bench and cheering you teams,’ Flynn said. ‘You don’t come by games like this in the Big East. Ever, whether you’re playing a bottom team or a top team, you don’t come by games where you’re blowing teams out.’

mibonner@syr.edu

Published on February 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm