Boeheim’s Army’s title defense ends in the second round of TBT

“Live by the three, die by the three” was the main theme in this matchup between Boeheim’s Army and The Nerd Team. The main barometer of success, or lack thereof, was three point shooting. The Nerd Team made 16 of their 29 three point attempts while Boeheim’s Army made just 6 of their 26 attempts from behind the arc.

“Every one (three pointers) they needed, they got,” Boeheim’s Army head coach Jeremy Pope said.

Although a lot of The Nerd Team’s three point makes were contested and timely, Pope believes the Army could have guarded better from the perimeter. “We gotta defend the three better,” Pope said. This is certainly an area where the losses of DeAndre Kane and DJ Kennedy impacted Boeheim’s Army.

The Army was down by as many as 22 points and never led throughout the entire game but demonstrated a “never say die” attitude. They went on a 20-4 run in the 4th quarter and pulled themselves within three points of The Nerd Team (77-74) there was a sense of belief amongst the players and the Syracuse Orange fans. It was palpable.

But a couple of whistles (or lack thereof) and missed shots came back to haunt the Army which was the theme of the game. Tyler Nelson hit a contested three point banker in Elam Ending fashion to send The Nerd Team to the Syracuse Regional Final. Nelson, a Fairfield alum, led all scorers with 23 points including 6 three point shots. In a losing effort, Cornell alum Matt Morgan led Boeheim’s Army with 19 points, Dee Bost had 17 and Rakeem Christmas added 16 points.

The Nerd Team survives and advances to the regional final to face Blue Collar U, a team composed of alumni from the University at Buffalo. As for Boeheim’s Army, their 2022 run was short lived and will have to spend the rest of TBT thinking about next year.

The regional final will take place at on July 25th at 7 PM at the SRC Arena at Onondaga Community College.