St Marks School defeated Yavneh 80-48 Tuesday night. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 13-6.
Yavneh ran into a buzz saw Tuesday in a game that they trailed wire to wire. Immediately from the opening tip the St Marks pressure seemed to be too much for the Bulldogs, who have been turnover prone several times this season. An immediate turnover sparked a quick 12-2 run for St Marks. Senior Captain Jake Greif kept the lead in single digits with a great opposite handed driving layup but the turnovers were starting to mount. Similar to the Shalhevet game in Houston, an opponent was using their size, athleticism, quickness, and pressure defense to turn Yavneh over time and again. However, there was much more this time. The Bulldogs were not making shots early (3/12) and were not rebounding. Trailing by 13 points after a period, the lead continued to grow as did the turnover count. St Marks placed a heavy emphasis on containing Yavneh’s star scorer Jordan Prescott. He struggled to tally 9 first half points and rarely got a clean look at the basket. Quite simply, the Bulldogs did not have enough halfcourt offensive or defensive possessions. 15 first half turnovers and 7 costly opponent offensive rebound put backs allowed St Marks to use their brawn to eliminate all the great things Yavneh has done in most of their previous 18 games.
Trailing 38-22 at the half, the second half could not have started on a worse note. 2 consecutive turnovers against the St Marks press where Yavneh could not even get the ball in bounds busted the lead over 20 points and essentially sealed the game. The Bulldogs started to shoot better in the second half with Prescott and Sophomore Itai Guttman finally getting some halfcourt looks to execute. In fact, Yavneh netted 18 of their 48 points in the third period. Nevertheless, it seemed as if a good offensive play would be followed by at least 1-2 bad trips down the court and still constant back court mistakes leading to multiple St Marks run outs. The margin was 68-40 after three quarters of play. The fourth period included very little drama but Yavneh fought hard to the end. In all, 27 turnovers, 11 offensive put backs allowed, and 2/14 three point shooting all lead to a blowout loss on this night. Prescott led all scorers with 24 points and Sophomore Adam Karnett added 10 points. On the encouraging side, in Guttman’s longest appearance of the season (28 minutes) he seemed to be much more effective. 8 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals, and 2 assists was a well rounded game that might be a springboard to the post output needed from him.
Yavneh (13-6) cannot focus too heavily on this game. They were clearly overwhelmed but much can be taken from this contest. A long layoff and missing a third post player did not do the Bulldogs any favors but there is no need to panic off an early January loss. St Marks exposed some key areas that need to be tweaked but many times a game like this is a stepping stone to big time adjustments leading to a run down the stretch.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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