Yavneh defeated The Highlands School from Irving 50-37 Tuesday evening to push the Bulldogs record to 5-1.
This truly is the giving season. After handing the ball and the game to Sunset last evening with their 30 turnovers, Yavneh rebounded Tuesday with the second part of the annual holiday gift exchange. Highlands gave back 25 of those turnovers Tuesday night in a partially thrilling come-from-behind 50-37 victory for the surging Bulldogs. 50-37 doesn’t nearly tell the story of this game. Against the grain, Yavneh started very slow in this one. The starters were pulled with the exception of Sam Pulitzer 6 minutes into the game for lack of performance on both the offensive and defensive ends. The second team, comprised of Pulitzer, Butch Shawel, Bradley Alhadef, Aviv Schor, and Michael San Soucie, kept the team in the game with a strong showing. Alhadef knocked down a 3 and Shawel sank a mid range jumper, giving Yavneh an 11-10 lead at the end of a quarter. Their strong play kept them in for the entire 2nd quarter but turnovers at the end of the half and a more than questionable Highlands buzzer-beating 5-step layup led to a 21-14 Highlands lead at the half. The Yavneh starters were back to start the 2nd half with strict instructions to all out full court press the seemingly weak Highlands ball handlers on all Yavneh made baskets. One problem to the plan: Yavneh couldn’t put the ball in the basket for the first 3 and a half minutes of the third quarter. Finally, with his team down now 27-14 with 4:30 to play in the third quarter, David Naxon drilled a left wing three and the pressure was on. Before anyone could blink, the score became 30-29 in favor of the Bulldogs at the end of the third quarter. The lead would balloon to 43-29 as Yavneh was able to consistently turn the weak guards of Highlands over, score off those turnovers, and get to the free throw stripe constantly. David Naxon and Amitai Scott led the charge with steals and buckets, with Josh Abrams cashing in at the back end with steals leading to full-court run outs. After the dust had settled, Naxon finished with 29 points, Scott with 7, and Abrams with 6 [in addition to his 7 huge assists to the SUPER SOPH. Yavneh indeed has much to improve on but at the same time much to be thankful for this week of Thanksgiving.
Yavneh (5-1) is off until next Monday night.