Thomas Jefferson Public High School defeated Yavneh 61-57 Monday night. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 5-2.
Yavneh made a furious rally to erase a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter only to surrender their own 2-point lead in the final 1:43 as they suffered their second consecutive defeat Monday. TJ buried the first three pointer of the game but the Bulldogs responded with Griffin Levine’s tip follow. It was a good thing Levine capitalized on that opportunity because once again he would miss the final 14+ minutes of the first half with two eaaaarly fouls. Off the bench, however, Junior Zach Epstein chose the perfect time to have his best career game. He immediately deposited a triple from the deep wing for the first Yavneh lead of 5-3. Moments later classmate Noah Rubinstein stole a ball and found Epstein in transition for a 7-3 start. Senior Captain Steve Levine’s first steal gave him a pair of free throws for 9-3 and this game looked like it was going to be a Bulldog runaway in a fortress on Military Night at Thomas Jefferson High School. When this team is right, they are forcing turnovers all over the place and that was the case early in this contest. Steve Levine rifled a pass through everyone to co tri-captain Jonathan Ochstein for a left handed finish with contact and Ochstein would later add a free throw as a result of a behind the head attempt that dazzled all branches of the military in attendance. However, TJ followed the Avalon/Oakridge plan to crash the boards and chip their way back into the game with second chances. A 10-5 run to end the opening stanza for TJ was powered by the offensive rebounding, they had out-shot Yavneh 54-40% and the teams had combined for 16 turnovers with the Bulldog edge being only +2 by the time the period had expired. Yavneh would re-establish a 6 point advantage with another Epstein three ball from the corner and a Steve Levine steal for a swooping left side finish. He then added a full court scamper through a sea of TJ defenders with the climax of the story being his look-away glide to the hoop for 21-15. That basket would be the end of the fun for the visitors as TJ engineered a 15-1 spurt that lasted nearly 5 minutes. Eerily reminiscent of the 19-0 Oakridge run the Bulldogs turned the ball over, missed a buffet of layups, and spectated as TJ drilled wide open three pointers and rim runs that resulted in easy points. Senior Sammy Weyser stemmed the tide with a pair of free throws and Sophomore Micah Romaner connected on a tough finish at the basket to slice the lead in half. TJ responded with a three pointer that was matched by Steve Levine on a wing launch to creep Yavneh to within 35-30 for halftime. The stats said the Bulldogs trailed because of 5 missed free throws, an 18% deficit in shooting percentage, and yielding 24 of the 35 points allowed to TJ’s Calhoun brothers DeVante and Damion. In reality, it was a Murphy’s Law scenario for the Red and Black. Injuries, health precautions, and vacations had shrunk a once 14 man roster to a mere 8 available players. Couple that with the Foul Brothers at their usual seats on the bench with 2 fouls per person as the first half wound down options were limited and the best combinations for the scenario at hand were not necessarily available. And all that led to a mere 5 point deficit that was most certainly within reach.
What Yavneh could not afford was for the next run to belong to the home team and did it ever. Thomas Jefferson scored the first touchdown of the second half to extend a 5 point lead to a 42-30 domination. Layups were not finding the bottom of the net, outside shots clanked off the rim and all the while TJ was converting. The Bulldogs needed to fight back on the road and it looked like they had something cooking when Griffin Levine’s floater made the deficit a manageable 10 points. Romaner’s block/rebound led to a Griffin Levine to Ochstein finish with contact and the game’s momentum had begun to change. Ochstein suddenly turned into an assist machine with helpers on three straight possessions: Griffin Levine, Romaner, and then a Rubinstein three point play at the rim had suddenly drawn Yavneh to within 5 points at 46-41. But alas, more missed layups revved up TJ to score the last 5 points of the third period to re-vamp their 10 point lead heading to the final 8 minutes. The final period had to be the Bulldogs best of the season and it looked for all the world that it would happen. A 14-2 start to the final stanza completely flipped the script from the Oakridge game just 4 short days ago. First, Ochstein shredded the TJ press to find Epstein for a layup and Steve Levine would set up Rubinstein on a nice inbounds play a possession later. Ochstein was fishing and dishing as he scooped up a steal and rifled a pass to Rubinstein at the hoop for the three point play that suddenly trimmed the lead to a single basket at 51-48 with 3:38 remaining. For four minutes and 22 seconds TJ had not sniffed their offensive basket with most possessions ending with a turnover prior to their three point line. Rubinstein finished one more time with contact to complete his own personal 7-0 run and the Bulldogs were within a single point before a missed box out finally netted TJ their first points of the fourth quarter. That just meant a triple would be needed for the tie and Epstein delivered yet another monstrous long distance connection from fourth period assist machine Jonathan Ochstein, one of his 7 second half assists. They had climbed the mountain to tie the game at 53-53 and Epstein’s clutch 1-and-1 free throws gave the Bulldogs their first lead since the second period at 55-53 with 2:05 to play. A king size Rubinstein rebound appeared to have Yavneh in firm control but on this night things were not nearly what they appeared to be. TJ’s Kendall Jackson hit the biggest shot of the game after Yavneh failed to score, a Chernikov-like free throw line jumper to tie things at 55-55 with 1:25 remaining. TJ took command over the next 43 seconds with a pair of layups book-ending one final Bulldog turnover for a 59-55 lead with 42.9 seconds left on the clock. Rubinstein’s reverse layup cut the lead in half with 25.4 seconds left but the visitors were 4 fouls away from the bonus. By the time they actually forced the first 1-and-1 bonus free throw only 9.5 seconds remained. The Bulldogs caught a huge break when Damion Calhoun inexplicably misfired on the front end and Yavneh had one chance down just 2 points with the ball. Epstein, who had a career night, misfired on a baseline jumper that left only 0.8 seconds for TJ to salt away at the free throw line leaving an encyclopedia of what-ifs from a 31 minute/59.2 second struggle that was the Monday before Thanksgiving Military Night at Thomas Jefferson High School. Zach Epstein led the way with 15 points on 3/4 three point shooting while Noah Rubinstein and Steve Levine followed with 13 and 11 points respectively. Griffin Levine and Jonathan Ochstein combined for 11 points but their presence in the 14-2 outburst cannot be overlooked. Levine collected 6 tough rebounds in traffic to keep the run going and Ochstein orchestrated nearly every basket of the stretch with 8 assists (7 in the second half). Also of note, Thomas Jefferson defeated the Bulldogs for just the third time in 13 tries.
Yavneh (5-2) has seen a pair of winnable games slip through their fingertips in the last 96 hours in which they can look at any number of individual plays as being the back breaker. In reality, it has been all the little details along the way that have added up to back to back gut wrenching defeats. Bigger games, however, are on the horizon with only a single non-conference contest standing between the much anticipated tournament in Baltimore and then the start of district play. This team will take the learning experiences of these two games into its annual meeting with 5A Sunset Public High School. A once competitive series has been one sided in the favor of Yavneh in recent years but some of the most exciting games in school history have come from this rivalry. An opportunity to seize momentum back by winning the final Texas game of calendar 2015 awaits in less than 24 hours.
The Kennel Report, now in its twelfth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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