Jay Wright was sure the game was going to overtime. He could live with one chance. Even two chances. But the third chance Syracuse got was bound to be the backbreaker for his Villanova squad.

Luckily for the Wildcats, SU couldn’t finish the job.

First it was Eric Devendorf. Then Paul Harris. Then, finally, Jonny Flynn at the buzzer. The three players – who, ironically, would depart at the end of the season – missed three 3-point attempts in the final 10 seconds of the game, and the Orange (19-8, 7-7 Big East) watched as Villanova (22-5, 10-4) escaped with an 89-86 victory in front of 26,879 inside the Carrier Dome on Feb. 22, 2009.

‘We had no control. I was just watching and praying,’ Wright said. ‘After the first shot, I thought we were OK. The next two, we were just scrambling.’

Flynn’s miss was the culmination of a furious Orange comeback after the Wildcats held a comfortable lead for most of the second half. But SU’s full-court trap defense forced Villanova into three turnovers in the game’s final minute that gave Syracuse the chance at forcing overtime.

First, with SU down by five, Wildcats point guard Scottie Reynolds lost the ball with 59 seconds remaining, but Andy Rautins missed a 3-pointer on the other end. And on the next possession, Reggie Redding was called for traveling on the baseline, trying to dribble out of the press. Rautins missed another 3 on the ensuing possession.

Rautins finished with 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field before fouling out with 17 seconds left. But no one wanted to talk about his six made 3-pointers after the game. Instead, he talked about the two crucial shots he missed, the ones that 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.’

Still, though, the Orange was in position to tie the game within the final 10 seconds. Devendorf made a layup after another Reynolds turnover, and Redding made 1-of-2 from the line, giving the Orange the chance to tie with 7.9 seconds left on the clock.

In a mad finish to end the game, Devendorf’s shot was blocked from the right corner by Villanova’s Corey Stokes. Harris got the rebound, frantically ran back to the 3-point line and launched up a prayer that had no chance.

But then the ball landed beautifully in the hands of Kristof Ongenaet, who found Flynn wide-open on the left side beyond the arc. And everyone prayed this was the one that would finally go in.

‘Jonny had a wide-open 3,’ Harris said, 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.’

But Harris and everyone in the building watched as Flynn’s attempt clanged off the back rim and landed on the court with a thud.

Judging from the stat sheet, it was hard to believe Syracuse was even in a position to send the game to overtime in the final seconds. Villanova shot 52.5 percent from the field and dominated on offense despite ever-changing defensive looks from the Orange, much like in the teams’ previous meeting during the 2008-09 season in Philadelphia, a 102-85 Wildcats victory.

SU also was sloppy throughout the game, as Villanova accumulated 21 points off 15 Syracuse turnovers.

But they still had a chance – three chances – at the end of the game, despite being outplayed for much of it. Flynn was the one Harris wanted taking the shot, and everything seemed to point to SU mounting an impressive comeback in the game’s final minute.

But Flynn’s miss was just the frustration of the game that had finally come full circle.

‘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.’

– Compiled by Asst. Copy Editor Brett LoGiurato

Published on February 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm