Yavneh defeated Irving the Highlands 43-35 Monday evening to improve the Bulldogs record to 8-6.
Yavneh returned to their very own personal house of horrors Monday night at less than full strength with virtually everything working against them. With Junior David Naxon still sidelined recovering from early season surgery and Erez Krengel severely hobbled with ligament damage to his shooting wrist, all signs pointed to another loss in Irving to a scrappy Highlands team. However, the Bulldogs showed resiliency and courage in gutting out an important victory in a tough environment. The first quarter was as ugly as Yavneh’s previous three first quarters have been. Highlands won that quarter 10-8, taking advantage of a slew of Yavneh turnovers. The referees established early in the game that they were going to let the players play extremely physical. Very few fouls were called in the first half on either side. Many will remember these same referees playing big roles in the last two games at Highlands, both resulted in very close Yavneh losses in the final seconds. They would play no such role on this Monday night. Highlands continued to lead 16-15 at halftime in an extremely ugly affair. Both teams shot an equivalent 21% in the first half. Rebounding was fairly even but Highlands was winning the game on the offensive boards. Highlands’ 13 first half offensive rebounds combined with 13 Yavneh first half turnovers allowed Highlands to ugly the contest into the tractor-pull type game they wanted. During Yavneh’s 2 game winning streak, a common theme has been to come out strong in the third quarter after making the necessary adjustments. Monday, the Bulldogs were able to do this for the third straight time. After struggling through the first half while adjusting to a brace that was allowing Erez Krengel to play through his wrist ailment, a hot second half start was great to see. The Krengel three-pointer and a subsequent Sam Pulitzer long range two-point jumper surged Yavneh into the lead 20-18 minutes into the third quarter. The 11-5 Bulldog run to start the second half was spear-headed by Junior Bradley Alhadef. One of two big, long-range assists and an Alhadef three pointer extended the lead to 27-20. A mini 5-0 Yavneh run secured the lead at 32-24, with Krengel finishing off a big quarter on a nifty post move and a lay-up. In that third quarter, Yavneh was able to up the tempo, change the pace, and turn over Highlands. The 8 point lead was short-lived, however, with Highland starting the final period on an 8-2 run. It was the offensive rebounding of yet another Yavneh opponent that got the Bulldogs into trouble again. Highlands had one above-average player in Jacob Schaad but he struggled to score all night. The points he did have were off second and third chance opportunities as he towered over several Yavneh re bounders for 7 offensive boards to go along with his game-high 18 points. With the score at 34-32 Yavneh and 4:02 to play, Alhadef answered the call again by finding Aviv Schor for another long-range assist to push the lead back to 4. The Bulldogs struggled from the free throw line yet again, missing 8 more times. A critical miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity with 3:00 left cost Yavneh a chance to pad the lead but some critical defensive stops put them in a position to close out the game anyhow. While Krengel presumably would have preferred to be applying ice to his wrist, “Ice” made his usual late-game appearance at the free throw line (4/4) without struggle. He finished the game with a team-high 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 steals. Sam Pulitzer added 11 points while Alhadef and Charlie Saginaw pitched in big rebounding efforts.
Yavneh was able to win at Highlands despite being out-rebounded 36-35 (including allowing 21 offensive rebounds) and turning the ball over 20 times. The Bulldogs (8-6) will play Balch Springs Christian at home on Tuesday night.