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The Nerd Team ended the game just as they opened the first and second halves, punishing Boeheim’s Army from deep.

Tyler Nelson kickstarted the offensive charge in the first half, sinking a triple on The Nerd Team’s first possession. Jordan Bruner followed him up with a 3 of his own on TNT’s second possession. And to start the second half, Nelson cashed a pull-up 3-pointer. Bruner followed suit again less than a minute later with another long ball.

And three points away from the target score in the Elam Ending, Nelson rose up, bounced off contact from Andrew White III and chucked an off-balance shot from the wing with a second remaining on the shot clock.

The ball ricocheted off the backboard before swirling into the basket. Jelan Kendrick lifted Nelson in their air as the sharpshooter raised his arms and waved goodbye to the Syracuse crowd. Officials reviewed the tape before confirming the shot which ended Boeheim’s Army’s quest for a repeat TBT crown.

Nelson and Bruner combined to shoot 10-of-13 from deep. Overall, The Nerd Team scored more than half of their points from beyond the arc on their way to an 81-74 upset win. A shorthanded Boeheim’s Army never led, missing starters DeAndre Kane and Tyler Ennis for the whole contest as well as D.J. Kennedy for most of the second half. TNT shot 55% from deep, compared to Boeheim’s Army’s 23%.

“We knew coming in that that’s what they do, they’re a shooting team,” Kennedy said. “Some of the (3-pointers) you couldn’t even do anything about, especially the last one – that pretty much sums up the whole game. You can’t play better defense than that.”

Nelson was a worthy candidate to beat Boeheim’s Army from beyond the arc after a season in Germany where he shot 48% from deep. But Bruner was an unlikely long-range hero for TNT. In four years at Yale and Alabama, he shot just 30.9% from deep. Bruner was shut out on Friday against Brown & White, but against Boeheim’s Army, he made all four of his 3-point attempts.

“[Nelson] is known for shooting, that’s what he does, he’s a shooter,” Dee Bost said. “The other guy, (Bruner) the scouting report said let him shoot and he went 4-for-4.”

Boeheim’s Army struggled out of the gate for the second game in a row, except this time it was against a much stronger opponent. With sharp 3-point shooting and solid play in the paint, TNT broke a 6-6 tie with a 12-0 run just five minutes into the game.

Kyle Wiltjer, who shot 48% from deep this year for Spanish club Lenovo Tenerife, was slated to play for Boeheim’s Army before backing out of TBT late. BA missed his shooting as it made just one of its 10 first-half attempts from beyond the arc.

As Boeheim’s Army silently walked off the court to end the first half, Jimmy Boeheim smacked his hands together in frustration. TNT led 46-31.

TNT continued its hot shooting into the second quarter, extending its 12-point first quarter lead to as much as 22 midway through the second frame. The Nerd Team made 8 of their first 12 3-pointers, led by Nelson and Bruner, who started a combined 7-of-8 from deep.

The Nerd Team’s hot shooting from deep was a continuation from their performance against Brown & White in the first round, when four players made multiple triples and the team shot 42% from 3-point land. Jelan Kendrick led the team with 25 points on 11-of-12 shooting, though the rest of the squad shot just 31% from the field.

As Boeheim’s Army struggled to come back, things got chippy. Bost and TNT’s Brandon Sherrod were assessed a double technical midway through the third quarter after an altercation. A minute later, Boeheim’s Army’s bench was assessed a technical of its own.

After Matt Morgan’s 16 points on Friday, he replaced Ennis in the starting lineup. Morgan led the team with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting.

Rakeem Christmas represented Boeheim’s Army’s sole presence down low again. Against India Rising, he scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked two shots. He dominated India Rising center Josh Sharma, limiting the 7-footer to just two points in the first three quarters.

Boeheim’s Army continued to push the ball down low to Christmas, but they couldn’t overcome TNT’s long-range shooting. Christmas scored 16 points and led all players by shooting 8-of-8 at the stripe before fouling out in the Elam Ending. Fellow big men Marek Dolezaj (1-of-2) and Jimmy Boeheim (1-of-6) each only scored three points.

After TNT prompted the Elam Ending while leading 73-63, Boeheim’s Army mounted a last-minute comeback to draw the deficit within single digits. Andrew White III, Bost and Morgan all hit 3-pointers in an intense final stretch filled with loose balls and fouls.

Boeheim’s Army final fight kept them three points away from TNT’s 77 points after a Morgan free throw off a fastbreak foul. But after inbounding the ball following the free throw, Dolezaj missed a layup and Bruner grabbed the rebound for what would be the game’s last possession.

To the disappointment and disbelief of the crowd, Nelson ended the game with his seventh deep strike.

“Lucky is all I can say but he made it,” Bost said. “It’s a tough shot with great defense.”

Published on July 23, 2022 at 5:06 pm

Contact Connor: cpignate@syr.edu