Quick Hits: In win over Heartfire, Boeheim’s Army finds its go-to lineup

Boeheim's Army v. Heartfire
Photo Credit: Ben Solomon, TBT.

Keifer Sykes led all scorers with 17 points, and Boeheim’s Army survived in a 68-62 win over Team Heartfire.

  • Boeheim’s Army went to its bench quicker than in their opening game, as all ten players saw the floor before the end of the first quarter. In contrast to the first game, Keifer Sykes showed a hot hand early and had eight points in the first half, then added nine second half points in under seven minutes of play.
  • Based on the late game rotations in the two games, the trusted quintet is Tyrese Rice, DeAndre Kane, Malachi Richardson, D.J. Kennedy, and Chris McCullough. That group started the Heartfire game (Kane replaced Tyler Lydon) and closed both contests.

  • After getting off to a hot start in the opener, Richardson was a non-entity Monday night, missing all five of his field goals and finishing with one point. Rice also struggled with his shot, ending up 3-of-12.
  • Sykes was not the only bench contributor for the Army. C.J. Fair had seven points, all in the first half, and four rebounds while Eric Devendorf had six points and six rebounds, each in just 13 minutes of play. As the stakes rise, on-court production seems to be determining roles off the bench for each game as contributors get more run.
  • Free throw shooting was a hidden strength for the Army, keeping them afloat in the second half as Heartfire made their rally. Boeheim’s Army shot 10-of-12 from the line in the half, including 7-of-8 in the third quarter to help offset making only three field goals in the quarter.

» Related: Sykes, looking settled with Boeheim’s Army, helps shut down Heartfire

  • A major concern going forward for the Army is their turnovers. Not only did they commit 13 turnovers in the game, but 11 of them were of the live-ball variety. They were very fortunate to bot get burned by this carelessness, as Heartfire was only able to convert those 13 turnovers into seven points.
  • Wednesday night, Boeheim’s Army will take on Always a Brave at 9:00pm Eastern with ESPN2 handling the television duties.

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About Jim Stechschulte 894 Articles
A 1996 graduate of Syracuse University, Jim has reported on Syracuse sports for the Syracuse University Alumni Club of Southern California on nearly a decade. He has also written a fantasy basketball column published by NBA.com. He currently resides in Syracuse.