The Oakridge School of Arlington defeated Yavneh 57-45 Thursday night. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 5-1.
Oakridge dominated the final period Thursday, completely flipping the script with a 19-0 run to start the quarter and claim a tough road win early in the season. Both teams seemed on the ropes several times during this hotly contested back -and-forth slug-fest but in the end that fourth period explosion was too much for Yavneh to recover from. The Bulldogs jumped out to the early lead as Steve Levine took the basketball to the rack to begin the game and Sophomore Micah Romaner followed with a great dish to Griffin Levine for a corner jumper to surge the home team to a 4-0 start. Romaner continued his scorching start by taking a man’s charge which paved the way for Griffin Levine to extend his range and the lead with a wing triple for 13-6. Junior Daniel Chernikov wowed the big crowd with a first period buzzer beating foul line jumper to secure a 17-9 edge for the Bulldogs. Griffin Levine’s 7 points and team 58% shooting put Oakridge in a tenuous situation on the road early in this contest. In a pre-cursor of things to come, Yavneh did not do well with the early advantage. With a pair of starters saddled on the bench in more first half foul trouble, Oakridge took advantage and reeled off 8 points in a row to begin the second period. Simply put, Oakridge manhandled the Bulldogs on the boards for nearly the entire game. This 8-0 run included multiple second and third chance opportunities. A captain-like 4-0 response staked Yavneh back to a 21-17 lead with a Jonathan Ochstein free throw followed by a Steve Levine driving three point play at the rim. Oakridge once again countered with another 9 straight points. In fact, their 17 second period points came 8 in a row and then 9 in a row. Chernikov’s layup and Romaner’s free throw trimmed the Oakridge lead to 2 points for a 26-24 halftime score. Ochstein saved the day with a forced 5-seconds call as well just before the half came to a conclusion. Statistically, the visitors controlled shooting %, rebounds by far, and had the leading scorer in the game to that point. The one feather in the Bulldog cap was that a fully rested Noah Rubinstein and Griffin Levine would be back from their foul issues to start the second half.
Steve Levine was determined to put his team back on top in the third period and he wasted no time at all in doing so. Rubinstein lasered a pass to the opposite wing for a Levine triple and an instant lead change. He then did the unexpected and put on his right hand turn signal for a dashing Right-handed finish. The other Levine (Griffin) took a big charge putting leading scorer Bronson Boyd into deep foul trouble. The game would remain tied for the middle part of the third stanza until sharp-shooter Gordon Fleming started to catch fire. His triple staked Oakridge to a 34-31 lead but the final 3:39 of the third quarter belonged to Steve B Levine. In probably his best stretch of a very good season to this point, Levine was simply unguardable. He started a personal 8-0 run with a steal that led to a free throw. Then, a whirling three point heave through heavy traffic found nothing but the bottom of the net, and a dashing left side finish to go along with a pair of free throws left Oakridge gassed and searching for answers. The 8-0 Steve Levine run re-invigorated the Bulldogs to a 39-34 advantage while Oakridge was a play or two from potentially packing their bands to head back westward. The fourth period, instead, turned into a nightmare scenario for Yavneh. In the first 4:54 of the final chapter Oakridge scored 19 points to the Bulldogs nothing. A sea of turnovers, a dazzling array of Gordon Fleming downtown shot-making, and the balance of offensive rebound put-backs all contributed to the worst stretch of Yavneh basketball at the seasons absolute worst time to date. Griffin Levine connected on a three ball to stop the spurt at 19 straight but the now 53-42 score with only 3:06 to play proved to make anything thereafter way too little and way too late. A promising signature victory less than a quarter from its fruition quickly became the season’s first setback after 5 straight wins. Steve Levine led the team with 18 points while Griffin Levine notched 15 points in just 19 minutes of action. If your name wasn’t Levine and you were a Bulldog, you only had 12 combined points in this game. Suddenly, the depth that has been the calling card of this team succumbed to foul trouble, inefficiency and continued injury recovery issues….at least for one night.
Yavneh (5-1) may have lost their first game in a dramatic downward spiral too quick to even know what was happening but the fact remains that they battled a talented, athletic, and big Oakridge team in taking them to the brink. A game that seems like Heart-Break City at present can quickly morph into Experienceville: Population 12 not too far down the road. Of more immediate concern, the Bulldogs have no time to soul search what went wrong as a pair of Dallas 5A Public Schools are on the docket for Monday/Tuesday of the upcoming Thanksgiving week. Up first will be a tough road test at Thomas Jefferson High School on Military Night which should provide a raucous environment to forget all about the previous week.
The Kennel Report, now in its twelfth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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