Yavneh defeated Mc Kinney Christian 51-39 Thursday evening to improve the Bulldogs record to 13-6.
It was an emotional night in which a huge crowd honored Akiva Wolk and Itzy Ribald as their jerseys were officially retired. The eighth straight Yavneh victory did not hurt the electric atmosphere one bit. Ribald later reflected that he appreciated the 41 three point attempts that the Bulldogs launched in his honor. With one star player David Naxon now out for the season with a knee ailment, it was time for the other star player to re-establish his early season scoring dominance. From the opening tip, with the crowd gasping at every turn, Krengel had a scorer’s mentality. He drained an early three pointer and captained a 12-5 Yavneh start nearly 5 minutes into the game. Junior Butch Shawel was riding the wave as well, recording his first career blocked shoot and nailing a subsequent three pointer. The pace was all Yavneh all the time early, finishing the quarter leading 18-8. Yavneh was running as they wished, turning over Mc Kinney’s less athletic group, and getting the shots they wanted. However, the shots were just not falling. 6/23 shooting, including 4/18 from three land was less than accurate but it was the quality of the shots that encouraged Yavneh all evening. More great execution in the second quarter did not yield any better shooting success as the ball continued to do everything but find the basket. 6/31 first half three point field goals did not cost the Bulldogs the lead, however. They continued to hold a 29-15 lead at the half as Mc Kinney was worn down and could not keep up with the running Yavneh groups. The second half started with a poor opening defensive possession in which Yavneh gave up major ground on the defensive glass. Most of Mc Kinney’s 17 offensive rebounds came on a couple bad possessions for the Bulldogs defense. The Bulldog lead would get tenuous on several second half occasions. It was at 33-21 when Krengel injected a quick personal 5-0 run to push the lead right back out. With time winding down in the third quarter and Yavneh holding a lead of just 41-30, Yavneh called Itzy Ribald’s signature play for Krengel. The result was a corner three pointer followed by a Sam Pulitzer post move that looked a lot like something Akiva Wolk would have engineered himself. All of a sudden, the lead was 46-31 heading into the fourth quarter. The ugliest period of the night concluded the game with Yavneh unbelievably trying to hold off the pesky team from Mc Kinney. A series of bad rebounding trips left the Bulldogs in a really bad spot. Senior Charlie Saginaw stemmed the tide with one of his three huge charges that he took during the game. Yet, the Bulldogs held a thin 46-39 lead with 2:48 to play. Yavneh tried to make the game even closer by turning the ball over time and again in the final minutes. A huge Krengel rebound helped to secure the 7 point lead temporarily, and he followed true to form by nailing 3 out of 4 free throws down in the final minute. “Ice”, as Krengel has come to be known in late game situations, is never fazed by late game free throw no matter how many three pointers he has missed during the game. (5/21) Senior post Sam Pulitzer also drained two free throws to close out the game. Krengel led all scorers with 24 points. Pulitzer pulled down 13 big rebounds and William Zalstein tallied a tough 7 steal, 6 assist performance. Juniors Bradley Alhadef and Michael San Soucie paced the other unit with solid 7 point efforts.
Yavneh (13-6) will play at Covenant Monday night. Covenant has been a major thorn in the Bulldogs’ sides the past few seasons. However, they will have to deal with a streaking Bulldog group playing their best basketball of the season.