Stars show up for Boeheim’s Army battle in Syracuse

While it wasn’t a showdown with an ACC rival in the Dome, a sizable crowd of Orange fans and Syracuse men’s basketball players and alumni helped propel Boeheim’s Army to an 81-76 win Thursday in the TBT summer basketball tournament.

The SU squad defeated Seton Hall’s alumni team, Hall In, to advance to the next round of the $2 million summer tournament.

Some of the loudest cheers inside the nearly packed Upstate Medical Arena at War Memorial came from current SU men’s basketball players, including Gavin Doty, Tasman Goodrick and Aiden Tobiason, along with some of the most recognizable faces from SU history.

Longtime SU head coach Jim Boeheim, the father of both Buddy Boeheim and Jimmy Boeheim and the team’s namesake, was in attendance to support his sons.

“It was a lot of fun,” Buddy Boeheim said of being able to play in front of his dad and with his brother donning Orange again. “I had a blast because I’m playing with Jimmy.”

Buddy didn’t contribute much during the opening three quarters of play but caught fire during the final quarter, adding eight points in a span of 56 seconds.

“It’s up there,” Buddy said of where that fourth-quarter stretch ranks among his favorite basketball moments. “When you can get going when you need to, I think it says a lot.”

Both teams struggled to get hot during the opening quarters, combining for an unimpressive 2-for-20 from behind the 3-point line. Instead, it was Boeheim’s Army big man Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu who controlled the game.

The transfer portal player from Memphis had 14 points on 7-for-7 shooting, all on dunks, including several highlight-worthy alley-oops.

“It’s easy for us to connect on those,” Akobundu-Ehiogu said of how his teammates are learning to find him for the alley-oops. “I think they got it down.”

With an energetic fan base on hand, one of the biggest moments came during a media timeout in the third quarter, when new SU head coach Gerry McNamara’s presence at the game was acknowledged.

“It’s amazing,” said Boeheim’s Army forward Elijah Hughes, who played two seasons at Syracuse in 2019 and 2020. “Coach Boeheim, G-Mac, and all the guys coming through.”

But one more Orange legend drew a standing ovation from fans when announcers called the name of NBA great Carmelo Anthony.

With the crowd’s energy running high, Boeheim’s Army started to click, riding a nine-point lead into the Elam Ending.

With the target score set at 81, the Syracuse squad knew what it was chasing, but after a few Hall In buckets, the game became closer than expected.

Most of that production came from Seton Hall’s Ant Nelson and Isaiah Whitehead, who combined for 37 points and played a large role in cutting down the deficit during the Elam Ending.

After a clutch 3-pointer from SU’s Cole Swider put Boeheim’s Army one point from victory, the game came down to a trip to the line for Tyson Walker.

The guard from Michigan State nailed the free throw, sending Boeheim’s Army into the next round of TBT, taking place Sunday against La Familia, the alumni team for the Kentucky Wildcats, in Lexington, Kentucky.

“No egos, no agendas,” Buddy Boeheim said of how his teammates are determined to win. “We want to keep this going.”