Boeheim’s Army sweeps Hall In, advances to TBT Quarterfinals
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Elijah Hughes wasn’t nervous.
Even when tied 13-13 after the first quarter, even after escaping into halftime with a four-point cushion, even when losing that lead in the fourth against a team he dropped 12 points against just two days prior — his nerves didn’t show up on the scoreboard.
“We just missed shots. You guys have all seen what we can do from the 3-point-line,” Hughes said. “We missed a lot of shots. Nervous is absolutely the wrong word.”
Fair point, Elijah. Due to its 24% 3-point mark in the first half, Boeheim’s Army struggled to pull away from Hall In until the fourth quarter in its 81-76 win Thursday. Every Boeheim’s Army starter scored in double figures, led by Tyson Walker and Cole Swider’s 15, while Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu (14), Buddy Boeheim (14) and Hughes (12) followed closely behind.
With the Game 2 win over Hall In, the Syracuse alumni advance to the TBT Quarterfinals, where Boeheim’s Army will face La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni team.
Despite the fairly even final point distribution among the starters, Akobundu-Ehiogu stole the show from the opening tip. The 6-foot-10 center, who averaged 6.4 points in the 2026 NBA Summer League with the Dallas Mavericks, began the game with a dizzying display — three consecutive alley-oop dunks, each assisted by a different teammate.
Akobundu-Ehiogu’s form continued into the second quarter, where he eclipsed double-digit points less than three minutes in. His heroics were similar to Tuesday, when he opened the game with a dunk and connected with Walker for multiple alley-oops in the 30-point victory.
Unlike Tuesday, though, Hall In responded.
Led by former NBA guard Isaiah Whitehead, who finished 5-of-12 with 17 points, the Seton Hall alumni went on an 11-6 run. The sequence, capped by a Whitehead 3, allowed Hall In to tie the game at 13 at the end of the first quarter, far closer than its 21-15 deficit at the end of the first in Game 1.
Both sides continued trading blows in the second frame; for the first four minutes of the quarter, neither side built a comfortable lead. When Ant Nelson and Phillip Carr hit back-to-back 3s to put Hall In up 27-23, Hughes and Swider answered with their own.
Boeheim’s Army recovered. It forced a Hall In stop before Boeheim, who was 0-for-4 from the field, cashed a 3, giving BA a four-point cushion entering halftime.
It needed it. Like in the first, the Syracuse alumni began the third quarter with another Akobundu-Ehiogu alley-oop, this time assisted by Walker. The play launched an 18-9 run, powered by Hughes, and for the first time, Boeheim’s Army began to pull away.
Hughes shot 3-of-6 in the third quarter, including two triples and a layup. But the Syracuse squad’s lead dwindled when Hall In capitalized on free throws. After the Seton Hall alumni shot 57% from the stripe in the first half, Hall In’s Darnell Brodie made four free throws alongside a layup, and Colby Rogers made two plus a 3, to cut BA’s lead to 59-57 entering the fourth.
The offensive barrage continued, with a Whitehead layup and Brodie free throw giving Hall In a slight edge.
But Buddy delivered with his own 11-point run. He swished three 3s and a 2, while Hall In turned to Brodie and Whitehead for layups.
“There was a huge sigh of relief,” Buddy said. “I think I let out one of the louder screams I’ve let out in a long time. I was just excited, relieved, thankful. My teammates kept finding me, giving me confidence.”
Swider then cashed a 3, bringing BA’s lead to 73-66 and taking the game into the Elam Ending, when the target score is set at 81.
With the clock off, Walker banked a layup, and Hughes split a pair of free throws to put the Syracuse alumni within five. Then the fouls began taking over.
First it was Akobundu-Ehiogu on KC Ndefo, then Hughes on Nelson and Swider on Ndefo. Yet Hall In only scored once from the stripe.
At 77-71, Whitehead was fouled on a made 3. The Hall In captain completed the four-point play, but Swider responded with his own triple. Whitehead made two more free throws, but it was too little, too late.
The old Big East is back. At least that’s how The Basketball Tournament advertised this matchup. With Eric Devendorf on the floor and Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara and Jim Boeheim in attendance for a Syracuse-Seton Hall matchup, it certainly felt like it.
But take it from Buddy, being Jim’s son, he grew up around the rivalry. He ran circles around Anthony at the national championship celebration as a toddler. He began lifting with Devendorf in seventh grade, which Buddy credits as “the reason (he) got to be a pro.”
“Elijah told me if I shoot the next 40 and miss them all, he wants me to shoot the 41st,” Buddy said. “So, that’s pretty special to have, a bunch of pros that are great players, to be unselfish, too.”
