Boeheim’s Army moves one step closer to ultimate goal

Boeheim’s Army gets another win on their conquest towards the 2018 TBT title. Here’s how they did it and what’s up next in Atlanta.

Boeheim’s Army opened the game with a unique strategy, putting one of their best players on the bench in John Gillon. We of course remember Gillon for his buzzer beater to take out Duke in the Carrier Dome, but he still has it.

He’s not the only one, thank goodness for Eric Devendorf. In the last game for Boeheim’s Army, only Demetris Nichols made threes for this squad, Devendorf made sure that wasn’t the case this time around.

This team started out red hot shooting 78% from the field. So it was more than perimeter shooting, Arinze Onuaku (without the apparent jet lag this time around) was really the straw that stirred the drink for this team throughout.

By the end of the first quarter, this team was battered and bruised. Devendorf had eaten an elbow to the face and Gillon fell pretty hard on his hip. Boeheim’s Army held the slim lead 23-22 after the first stanza.

The cool thing about this tournament is the overflowing amounts of nostalgia and I don’t think we got a better snippet of that then seeing Hakim Warrick blocking a three.

Speaking of the second quarter, it took that long for Armored Athlete to take their first lead of the game. Let’s fast forward to half time where we saw the same result after another quarter, Boeheim’s Army holding on to a slim lead (38-37).

Definitely one of the most competitive and thrilling TBT tournament games to date, two really good teams competing here…

The name of the game was Boeheim’s Army taking quality shots and Armored Athlete getting those second chance opportunities.

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In the third quarter is where Boeheim’s Army started to pull away and build some cushion. Boeheim’s Army’s abilities in the paint couldn’t have been possible without Onuaku, who was a late addition with Paul Harris having to pull out.

The Elam Ending was put into effect and bingo, bango, bongo: 73 became the target score. (quick detour if you’d like to hear more about it, we spoke with the head coach for Boeheim’s Army Ryan Blackwell):

So the Elam Ending was supposed to end intentional fouling, yet the unique strategy from Armored Athlete was to… intentionally foul. A poor strategy because Onuaku DOESN’T MISS ‘FREE’ THROWS! Well until he missed two later…

It starting getting hairy with a comeback during the closing moments, but ultimately Boeheim’s Army prevailed! Boeheim’s Army ended up winning it on a free throw from Hakim Warrick (the second time they had won a game in that fashion during the tournament).

With the win, No. 1 seeded Boeheim’s Army will now play the No. 3 seeded Golden Eagles at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday in Atlanta for the quarterfinal. The Eagles in their three games prior defeated No. 14 seeded Johnnies (78-67), then took out the No. 11 seeded Hall In (96-76), and most recently taking out the No. 15 Talladega Knights (73-66).

Not to look too far ahead, but if they won again, they may have an opportunity to beat a team that has smacked them around over the last few years: Overseas Elite. How sweet it would be.