TBT: Men of Mackey Fall Short To Boeheim’s Army 76-69
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The No. 19 seeded Men of Mackey team fell to defeat and were eliminated from The Basketball Tournament by the No. 3 seed Boeheim’s Army 76-69.
Men of Mackey only shot 5-25 from behind the arc and committed 18 turnovers against Boeheim’s Army 2-3 zone defense.
After the first quarter of play, both teams were knotted up at 19, but after an 11-2 run by Boeheim’s Army, a team primary made up of former Syracuse players, early in the second quarter followed by a 10-4 run to close the half to take a 42-32 lead.
However, in the third quarter, Men of Mackey found their groove, going on an 8-0 run led by Frank Gaines, an Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) product who has spent time playing professional basketball overseas, who was the scoring leader of the squad with 18 points going 7-for-17 from the field.
After a 9-2 spurt by the Men of Mackey, they claimed a 61-60 lead in the fourth quarter, but never led again.
Boeheim’s Army imposed their will with Eric Devendorf, a Syracuse alum (2005-09), scoring the game winning free throw to hit the target score of 76, courtesy of the Elam Ending.
Devendorf led all scorers with 20 points shooting an efficient 9-for-14 from the field. Malachi Richardson added 15 points and 10 of his 15 points were from the free throw line for Boeheim’s Army, which made 28 of its 32 free-throw attempts.
Justin Dentmon, Jonathan Octeus and Isaac Haas combined for 37 points and 19 rebounds during the contest.
Unfortunately, the loss eliminates the Men of Mackey from contention of receiving the $1,000,000 prize of the TBT tournament, which they were playing for the Tyler Trent Foundation.
RELATED: Complete results and schedule for TBT. CLICK HERE
