PHILADELPHIA — Eric Devendorf leaned in from the perimeter of the huddle and gave a simple order to his team, one fitting for the enigmatic former Syracuse guard.

“This is where we step on they neck,” he said aggressively.

Boeheim’s Army had stretched a three-point second-half lead to 14. It was the first time since the opening minutes 15th-seeded Basketball City NYC was comfortably in the rearview, and the SU alumni had a chance to put them out of sight completely following a timeout with under 12 minutes left in the game. And courtesy of a balanced scoring effort – Devendorf led seven players in double figures with 14 – second-seeded Boeheim’s Army eased to a 87-59 win in the opening round of The Basketball Tournament at Philadelphia University on Saturday night.

They will play the Broad Street Bullies (Temple alumni) on Sunday at around 4:15 p.m. in the Round of 32.

“When we got up 14, we just needed to extend that lead,” Devendorf said. “That’s what we did.”

Boeheim’s Army jumped out to a 10-2 lead, punctuated by an emphatic slam from Hakim Warrick. The former SU forward known best for arguably the most important defensive play in program history (the game-sealing block with 0.7 seconds left in the 2003 national championship game) drove baseline and palmed the ball before posterizing an innocent defender and smirking while Brandon Triche grinned and flung both his hands in the air.

“I just wanted to show ‘em I still got it,” Warrick said with a grin. “I think cause I’m old I only got a few a game, but I can still get up there.”

Five players made multiple buckets in the first half, led by C.J. Fair’s nine points on 3-of-8 shooting. Fair flew cross-country from Las Vegas to Baltimore and attended his uncle’s wedding following his final NBA Summer League game on Friday night. The 2014 All-ACC first teamer scored in a variety of ways, including his patented “pivot on the low block, lean into the defender with his right shoulder and float a left-handed shot off the glass and in” that helped earn him consensus All-American honors two years ago.

Basketball City wouldn’t go away, though, down only five at half, and Rhamel Brown delivered his own posterization on Rick Jackson to go along with what seemed to be a 3-point bucket in response to every Boeheim’s Army score.

“We’ve got a lot of people that everybody recognize so everybody’s gonna step on our throat,” Baye Moussa Keita said. “We’re gonna have to do the same thing to them.”

That’s exactly what they did, heeding Devendorf’s orders, and a tightly contested game became somewhat of a farce.

After Terrence Roberts flushed a two-handed dunk, he made sure to hang on the rim a little extra and rip at the net on his way down. Devendorf urged the team to not relent so as to intimidate opponents. The frustration was tangible for Basketball City, as Tyran De Lattibeaudiere slammed the ball to the court with two hands heading into a timeout.

And a game that was once in doubt finished anything but.

Published on July 16, 2016 at 9:11 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman