Austin’s Hill Country Christian School defeated Yavneh 43-41 Thursday evening. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 3-4.
Intra-Central time zone jet lag, suspect refereeing, and the lack of a baseline on some sort of rubberized plastic court surface fresh out of a scene from a neighborhood Chuck E. Cheese were not the root cause for the Bulldogs falling below .500 for the first time this season. 33 more turnovers and 11 missed free throws, on the other hand, were again the culprits in one of the ugliest performances in school history. The fact that Yavneh still almost pulled out a victory from the jaws of defeat on this most horrific of nights was a credit to a pair of gritty Freshmen guards. Reid Cohen caused havoc all night, stealing two basketballs and forcing at least 7 additional turnovers to keep the Bulldogs in the fight all night. Jordan Prescott had a monster 15 point/15 rebound game, culminating in a nearly flawless fourth quarter. The nearly would hurt just a little bit. Yavneh controlled a sloppy first stanza 11-7, headlined by a late steal and layup by Senior Captain William Zalstein. The Bulldogs maintained their four-point edge at half behind tenacious defense from Cohen. The half ended with two beautiful plays as Prescott did a 360 scoop move followed by his pass to Sophomore Elan Kogutt for a buzzer-beating lay-in. Kogutt once again led all scorers with 20 points. Yavneh did themselves no favors by following up their turnover performance from the second half of the previous game with 17 more in the first half on this night. Also for a second straight game, a trapping half court and full court defense gave the Bulldogs fits. Hill Country’s Kevin Whitlock scored 16 points including three difficult three pointers to provide the majority of the opposition’s offense. A 15-4 run to start the second half swung the game in HC’s favor. 24 turnovers for Yavneh in the game’s first 22 minutes meant more than a turnover per minute which would hold through game’s end as a telling statistic. The Bulldogs fought back with their own 7-0 run, however, and made this a game despite long odds with all the mistakes. Zalstein took a big charge and found Kogutt off a steal to cut the deficit. Then, as the final period started, Prescott came alive like a mini-superstar shot out of a cannon. A tip-in followed by a sequence of gritty play in the trenches propelled him to tie the game on a mid-range jumper with 5:33 to play. After yielding 4 quick points to HC, Prescott got the Bulldogs off the mat again with a clutch three ball. Kogutt then gave Yavneh the lead at 37-36 with 3:20 remaining. The game see-sawed for a bit until Cohen got an opportunity to put the Bulldogs in front with two free throws down by one point and 30.3 seconds to go. It was almost as if the young, innocent point guard had no idea how much time was left as he calmly drained both shots. In the frenetic moments that followed, somehow some way Hill Country’s Brandon Pappas’ prayer leaning three pointer found safe harbor through the net with 13 ticks to play. The Bulldogs did not get a good look during the game’s final moments. In the catastrophe of the moment, it should be noted that Yavneh so deeply missed absent guards Joe Lerer (sick) and Josh Karnett (healing ankle). That, along with the 30+ turnovers/11 missed free throws were clearly the difference. As always, though, from despair comes hope. If Kogutt returns to form, he now has Prescott as a true complement? Junior Captain Miles Pulitzer will undoubtedly be better than he has shown the last two games and this team will have a HUGE opportunity to right the ship with a 4-game week upcoming.
Yavneh (3-4) better rest over the weekend because the first of the Mid-December Quadrangle begins Monday night at Lewisville Temple Christian.
The Kennel Report, now in its fifth season, is written by…
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