HSAA South defeated Yavneh 46-39 Tuesday evening. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 13-10.
If basketball had a fifth quarter, Yavneh would clearly be THE team to beat. Another lackluster early performance nosed out a strong finish, leaving the Bulldogs searching for answers. A very slow offensive start chilled the momentum early but Senior Captain Miles Pulitzer sparked the cause with a pair of three pointers for 6 quick points. A nice Jake Greif post move and an actual field goal from Senior Joe Lerer frustrated HSAA 11-10 after one period. The Bulldogs were moving the ball well again, outrebounding their opponents, and playing the game at a deliberate pace. But an 8-2 run to start the second period for HSAA flipped the game on Bulldog turnovers and continued offensive inefficiency. Leading scorer Elan Kogutt could not keep himself on the court for consistent periods of time and eventually an overly stagnant offensive attack took its toll on the Yavneh defense as well. Easy scoring opportunities ballooned the margin to double digits at the half. From 50% after a quarter, the Bulldogs were down to 31% shooting and the mere 2 points scored in the second quarter were the result. The game would have been even more unmanageable but Senior Josh Karnett took two charges to complement one by Greif as well. The turnovers grew in the third quarter and timely three pointers by HSAA proved to hurt even more. As the lead approached 20 at 40-21 early in the fourth period, the Bulldogs again got their spark from the insertion of Senior Ethan Prescott. The 18-6 Yavneh run to end the game that ensued again showed the late resiliency of a team that could have mailed it in. Kogutt returned to the floor to provide some much needed offense, Pulitzer and Jordan Prescott turned pressure defense into easy opportunities at the basket, and there is little doubt that an extra 5 to 8 minutes could have provided a different outcome. But alas Yavneh must find a way to play with that late game passion throughout, and could see a string of wins during their final seven games if they can. A 20 win season sits within their grasp but that would mean perfection starting Thursday night in Baltimore.
Yavneh (13-10) must put it together in a hurry at the Wilner Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland this weekend.
The Kennel Report, now in its sixth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
LF 7-7