syracuse
Syracuse, N.Y.
- Buddy Boeheim estimated he was 1-for-35 before his big Thursday moment.
He exaggerated his poor shooting percentage in Boeheims Armys decisive game against Hall In.
It wasnt nearly that bad.
But the former SU basketball star made a point: He was struggling to make shots.
Until he wasnt.
Boeheim scored 14 points in an 81-76 win over Hall In at the Onondaga County War Memorial.
He scored eight of those points in 56 seconds to turn a tight game into a big Boeheims Army advantage going into The Basketball Tournaments Elam Ending.
Boeheims Army trailed 60-59 when Boeheim caught a pass from Tyson Walker and drained the first 3.
Isaiah Whitehead tied the game on a driving layup.
Walker found Boeheim again and Boeheim made another 3.
Then Elijah Hughes passed up an open wing jumper to deliver the ball to Boeheim, who made a long 2.
The Walker-to-Boeheim combination again worked its late-game magic when Boeheim drained another 3-point shot to bump Boeheims Army to a 70-64 advantage.
Its a great group of guys that have confidence in me, Boeheim said later Thursday, after posing for approximately 100 post-game selfies with Syracuse fans.
GMac kept yelling at me to shoot so that also gave me confidence.
Tyson gave me a great look and that really got me going.
GMac would be Gerry McNamara, who sat near the Boeheims Army bench with a contingent of current SU players, plus Jim Boeheim, plus SUs entire coaching staff, plus Carmelo Anthony.
By the end of Buddy Boeheims scoring spree, fans were chanting Bud-dy! He didnt hear that specific cheer, but Boeheim loves the boost of nostalgia he gets playing in these TBT games.
The former Syracuse guys on the team talk each summer about feeling that warm, familiar Orange embrace.
TBT did not officially note the size of Thursdays crowd, but it was large and largely clad in orange.
I just love pulling up to the 315, going on 81 and seeing Cortland and coming up this way, Hughes said.
Its amazing.
I love coming back here.
This place changed my life forever, so I got a lot of love for this place.
Buddy Boeheim was more rested on Thursday.
He spent 3 1/2 weeks playing for Oklahoma City in the NBA Summer League, auditioning for a job.
He played on Sunday, then took the redeye to New Jersey to play for Boeheims Army Tuesday at Walsh Gymnasium.
He barely slept.
His legs, he said, felt heavy.
He drove back to Syracuse directly after that game, arrived home at 1:30 a.m.
and slept in his own bed for about 12 hours.
That helped, he said, but it was a long 48 hours.
Putting on that jersey with Boeheim spelled out on the front and back always provides a little boost.
When he struggled to make shots early in the game, he desperately wanted to give all those Syracuse/Boeheims Army fans something to cheer about.
When the ball finally started falling, he said, he let out one of the louder screams Ive let out in a long time.
I was missing early and the crowd wanted to be loud after a make so I was really just wanting to make one for them, Boeheim said.
And then to get it going at the end was a lot of fun.
Theyre the best fans in the world and I wouldnt want to be anywhere else but here this time of year.
Boeheim finished with 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting from 3 and 5-of-15 overall.
He had four rebounds and three assists.
Boeheims Army put five guys in double-figures, led by 15 points from Tyson Walker and Cole Swider; Swider was 3-of-6 from 3 and had a game-high 13 rebounds.
Walker also had 10 assists.
Hughes finished with 12 points and big man Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu scored 14 points, all off lob finishes at the rim.
NOTES: Eric Devendorf hurt his left knee Thursday and limped out of the War Memorial with a bag of ice strapped to that knee.
His former SU teammate Arinze Onuaku, now a Syracuse coach, helped shepherd him off the court after the buzzer.
Devendorf is traveling with the team to Kentucky, but said the injury will prevent him from playing.
Boeheims Army general manager Shaun Belbey said he will know fairly soon about potential reinforcements for Sundays game in Kentucky.
He can only activate players he put on the reserve list before the tournament started.