Yavneh defeated Celina High School 55-46 Tuesday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 14-6.
Seven days after the debacle at St Marks, Yavneh finally had an opportunity to respond with a bounce back game and they did exactly that. A focused Bulldogs team traveled well outside Dallas proper in an environment that had eaten them up in the past against a team they had never beaten; the result was a solid quality win that may be the springboard for a late season run. Right from the beginning this was a different Yavneh attack. The Bulldogs grabbed an early 7-3 lead as Senior Captain Jordan Prescott and Sophomore Itai Guttman were able to work together in dissecting Celina’s porous interior half court defense. Both teams were somewhat ice cold in the early going as Yavneh lead 9-6 after a single stanza 9-6. Celina connected on just 1/11 field goals but the game remained close due to turnovers. Celina’s dominance on the boards was evident all evening long and allowed their horrendous shooting percentage to keep them in the game. They finally connected on a triple on the ninth attempt, tying the game at 15-15. Celina literally was getting 2-3 cracks at their basket seemingly all night long. Senior Kevin Sulski lasered a pass through heavy traffic to Sam Kleinman cutting to the basket for a 17-15 advantage but Celina’s press and pound philosophy was about to kick into high gear. An 11-4 run over the next 3 minutes surged Celina into the lead at 26-21. The pace was too quick for the Bulldogs and for a fleeting moment St. Marks flashbacks started to appear on everyone’s imaginary jumbo-tron screen. But alas the long forgotten scoring tandem of Prescott and Sophomore Adam Karnett swooped in just in the nick of time. The duo each finished at the basket and a rare team defensive rebound collected by Sulski netted a Karnett free throw to tie the game at 26-26 for halftime. Celina could not hit the broad side of a barn but continued to be aided by 12 first half offensive rebounds. Additionally, the Bulldogs turned the ball over 8 times in the first 16 minutes. The tie score certainly indicated that if Yavneh could stop beating themselves they just might leave with a victory.
The Yavneh run continued despite the halftime break and actually reached 10-0 when they had flipped the game completely to lead 31-26. Prescott stormed out of the halftime locker room with a quick 5 points. The ultimate separation came, however, on a pair of blocked shots spanning both sides of the court. First, Sulski trampolined high above the play to send a Celina attempt towards the classrooms. Moments later Junior Josh Lynn had his shot directed towards a different set of classrooms but the ball was deflected in route right back to his arms for a put back and two points. That momentum shift seemed to spark another 5-0 Prescott run and gave the Bulldogs a game-high 38-29 edge. The lead soared into double digits with an Itai Guttman to Sulski feed for a nice lefty finish but a Celina flurry to end the third period left cause for concern. Yavneh turnovers against the press yet again yielded a 9-2 Celina run in the final 1:42 of the quarter and left a 4 point margin heading to the final period. For the third time, however, Prescott responded with a personal 5-0 run to re-establish the 9 point edge. This time he split the defense for a lefty finish and connected on another wing triple. From there the Bulldogs were able to manage most of the final 6 minutes quite well and sealed the victory with Guttman’s fourth and final assist to a wide open Sulski at the basket. The game was never closer than 7 points for the final six minutes plus. Prescott finished with 33 points and 12 rebounds while Guttman added six points and eight rebounds for his second straight solid game. 20 turnovers and 18 offensive rebounds allowed nearly cost the Bulldogs and at the very least made Tuesday’s victory more difficult than necessary.
Yavneh (14-6) will play HSAA Thursday night back at home. A second straight victory over a quality opponent would do wonders for the team’s continued momentum down the stretch in January. HSAA has always been a tough squad for the Bulldogs to handle and the game should be a great measuring stick.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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