Up until this point, they’ve managed to hold the excitement in.

Paul Harris and Jonny Flynn have patiently spent the last half hour answering questions about their upcoming season at Syracuse and about each other. About their chemistry, their friendship – no, brotherhood – growing up together in Niagara Falls, N.Y., their success as teammates in high school….

But now the two gather for a picture, their enthusiasm begins to boil over. The two joke and banter lightly, before Flynn lets loose.

‘Here he is!’ Flynn exclaimed, gesturing to Harris. ‘The reason I’m here. My big brother.’

A smiling Harris, SU’s stoutly built sophomore small forward, playfully wraps a massive, tattooed arm around the electric freshman point guard.

‘He does all the laundry,’ Flynn continued, ‘Does the dishes…’

‘Yeah, but he tutors me, though,’ Harris interrupted. ‘Ain’t that crazy!’

There is an almost child-like excitement about them. They’ve known this day was coming for two years now, since they committed to Syracuse together in summer 2005.

The bond was formed years ago in Niagara Falls. Harris helped clear the recruiting pathway for Flynn, who in turn stood by Harris in rough times. And during their two years apart leading up to this day, the anticipation has mounted. The eager phone calls Harris received frequently last year from Flynn have been replaced by late-night conversations in the South Campus apartment the two now share.

The best friends are teammates once again.

‘It helps a lot, whenever I need a shoulder to lean on, he’s there to help pick me up,’ Flynn said. ‘He’s like a big brother figure to me.’

But actually, they each needed to play big brother at one point get here together.

It was a half-mile trek down Highland Boulevard that Flynn would grow to know quite well.

First onto Huff’s Bridge over the rundown train tracks, then past the Catholic church and its faded, peach-colored steeple that reached into the sky out of the neat rows of North Niagara’s one-story houses and past four increasingly more desolate blocks to Michigan Avenue, where Harris lived.

It was an area noticeably rougher than around the Flynn’s Garden Street home.

‘Up the street, there was a lot of violence and drug dealing, things like that,’ Flynn said. ‘(My street) wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t a rough place like where Paul grew up. Up the block, there was a lot of bad things and stuff like that.’

Despite their proximity, Flynn said he didn’t really get to know Harris until just before high school.

In fact, Flynn had heard the legend of Paul Harris long before the two met. When Flynn was young, Harris had a mythical stature on the Falls playgrounds.

‘You had to see him when he was younger,’ Flynn said. ‘Like, you know how’s he’s just a man out here? When he was younger, he was the same way at, like, 12 years old. You were just in awe of him on the court…like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Paul Harris.”

It was only to be a matter of time before basketball brought Harris and Flynn together. Leading up to high school, the two played on the GC Ballers AAU team, and later at Niagara Falls High School.

Yet around the time Harris enrolled at Niagara Falls as a junior, they didn’t appear a perfect fit. Flynn was the squeaky-clean, affable kid with the million-dollar smile, who moonlighted as a drummer every Sunday for the choir at Higher Ground Christian Center, where his father, William, was a reverend.

Harris’ personal life was a mess. Just before his acceptance to Niagara Falls, he succumbed to the temptation of his neighborhood.

Harris spent 13 days in Lockport County Jail, charged with intent to sell crack cocaine. The September before his senior year, he was charged with third-degree assault after a dispute with his girlfriend, charges which were eventually dropped.

Yet Flynn stayed by Harris’ side, and along with their tight-knit group of Falls teammates, worked hard Harris’ senior season to keep him on the right track.

One of those teammates was small forward Greg Gamble, now a junior playing at Buffalo, who had known Harris since he was 7 and Flynn since he was 12.

‘In a situation like that, you just have to try and help the person stay out of trouble, give them alternatives,’ Gamble said. ‘Everything we did was positive, and by hanging around us, he began to get more positive. … It was, ‘Come hang out at one of our houses until 10 or 11 instead of being out on the street until 10 or 11.”

With Flynn and the rest of the team supporting Harris, Gamble said he saw Harris mature over his senior season. Harris has not gotten into legal trouble since leaving Niagara to spend a year at Notre Dame (Mass.) Prep in 2005-06.

As their relationship persevered through adversity, Flynn and Harris’ on-court chemistry grew stronger. Niagara Falls assistant coach Sal Constantino couldn’t remember how many times he’d witnessed Flynn steal a pass, break the other way and intuitively toss the ball off the backboard for Harris to throw down.

‘You should see in pickup,’ Harris said. ‘If Jonny gets the rebound, I’m gone and the alley-oop’s coming.’

Having Flynn could prove beneficial to Harris, who averaged 8.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last year. Flynn’s ability to push the tempo could free up the high-flying Harris to contribute more offensively.

When asked if his season would have been different, less frustrating than last year if Flynn had been playing for Syracuse, Harris’ response was telling.

‘Last year’s over, so I don’t wanna get into last year,’ Harris said initially before pausing, contemplating the scenario.

His glare shifted upward from the floor.

‘But it probably would have.’

Harris was not happy. He turned back to the bench to let his coaches know about it.

‘Tell him to put him back in! Tell him to put him back in!’ Harris yelled, demanding Constantino relay the message to then-head coach Dan Bazzani.

It was the 2004 New York Class AA state championship game. Just moments earlier, Bazzani had subbed in Flynn, then a sparingly used freshman. Upon receiving the ball, the over-excited Flynn barreled wildly into an opposing defender.

Flynn was called for a charge, and Bazzani pulled him out of the game. The short leash prompted the unabashed ire of Harris.

‘Paul had that confidence in him,’ Constantino said. ‘I guess he saw what we didn’t see until (Jonny) got a little bit older.’

Falls would lose that game to nationally ranked Mount Vernon, 56-46. The next year, Harris wouldn’t have to insist on Flynn’s inclusion. Flynn was the team’s starting point guard as a sophomore.

Harris, meanwhile, had established himself as one of the top high school seniors in the nation. He was a versatile, unselfish, guard-forward combo with a linebacker’s body who could score, rebound and play defense.

As colleges came from all over to see Harris, they couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of some of the Falls’ other talented players, five of whom, including Flynn, would eventually get D-I scholarships.

Harris always made sure the still-under-the-radar Flynn got as much notice as possible.

‘You could just see their friendship growing,’ Constantino said. ‘And it’s kind of funny – Paul was getting all the notoriety, but you could never have anybody talk to Paul when he didn’t mention Jonny. I think Paul put a crack in the door for Jonny, and Jonny just bursted through with his ability.’

Indeed, Flynn burst through Syracuse’s door in February 2005. SU assistant coaches Mike Hopkins and Rob Murphy traveled to Trenton, N.J., to watch Falls take on Vashon (Mo.) High School, the No. 1 ranked team in the country.

Hopkins and Murphy went to see Harris, who dropped 25 points in a 69-66, overtime defeat. But Flynn caught Hopkins’ eye.

‘We get out there, and they play great,’ Hopkins said. ‘And I remember going up to Rob, and I say, ‘What do you think about Jonny Flynn? He really wants to come. He’s only a sophomore.’ … And he said, ‘I love him.”

With that, Syracuse shifted attention to both players. Niagara Falls would go on to a 28-1 record with Flynn and Harris that year, a No. 3 national ranking from USA Today and the New York Class AA state title. Harris registered 19.6 points and 12.7 rebounds per game, while Flynn tallied 12.2 points and 3.4 assists per game.

The following July, Harris and Flynn committed to Syracuse together. Harris arrived at SU last year, its highest-rated recruit since Carmelo Anthony. This year, Flynn is widely regarded as one of the top five freshman point guards in the nation.

For the kid who had hardly been on anyone’s map a year ago, it was an easy decision.

‘Having somebody from your hometown, someone you’ve grown up with going to the same school…you’re gonna always wanna go with him no matter where he goes,’ Flynn said. ‘So that made the decision a whole lot easier for me.

‘I’m not going to be looking over my shoulder out there.’

They’ve only been in Syracuse for three months together now, but things seem to be coming together. Even when they decide to reverse roles for an evening.

For all their years in Niagara, it was Flynn who was so good at setting up Harris.

At SU’s Midnight Madness, it was Harris bouncing a perfectly choreographed pass to Flynn during the dunk contest. The 5-foot-11 Flynn grabbed the ball easily in mid-leap and wind-milled it through the cylinder two-handed. While Flynn played to the appreciative crowd, Harris ran the opposite direction and grabbed the microphone from ESPN analyst and Madness master of ceremonies Bill Raftery.

Harris’ voice boomed throughout Manley Field House.

‘That’s the Niagara Falls connection y’all been waiting for!’

In truth, no one has been waiting or anticipating this reunion more than Harris and Flynn.

For Harris, who struggled to earn steady playing time through parts of last season, his friendship and chemistry with Flynn could be the tonic he needs to find some consistency.

For Flynn, it’s the chance to play with the one who went out of his way to open doors for him at Niagara Falls.

And for both, it’s a chance to bring the brotherhood and success they enjoyed at Niagara Falls to Syracuse.

‘Over the years, this is all we’ve been talking about,’ Flynn said on media day before the team’s first official practice. ‘This is it. The first day of practice. … Everybody’s here to see us. You know, I just can’t wait for him to bring my level of play up, and hopefully I can do the same thing for him.’

Published on November 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm