Oral arguments in an ongoing defamation case against head men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim will be heard in New York state’s highest court on Sept. 9.

Former Syracuse ball boys Mike Lang and Bobby Davis initially filed their slander lawsuit against Boeheim and Syracuse University in December 2011, not long after he told the media the stepbrothers were liars who were out to get money.

Lang and Davis allege that Bernie Fine, a former associate head men’s basketball coach, sexually abused them during the 1980s and 1990s. The university fired Fine on Nov. 27, 2011. He has denied all wrongdoing and wasn’t charged after a nearly yearlong federal investigation.

A state Supreme Court justice threw out the lawsuit in May 2012 after ruling Boeheim’s statements were opinions protected under free speech. On Oct. 4, an intermediate state appellate court upheld that decision 3-2.

 The Court of Appeals took up the case after it was thrown out the second time. The court is the highest in New York state, and sets statewide principles with the law by deciding particular lawsuits.