Yavneh defeated Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy of Kansas 55-25 and then lost to Ramaz 53-39 in the third/fourth of five preliminary games at the The Joseph and Florence Weiner Memorial Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland Thursday. The Bulldogs season record now stands at 8-5.
Inconsistent play earned Yavneh a second straight split day at the Weiner Tournament in Baltimore Thursday primarily due to a lack of shot making but also mistakes at the most inopportune times. Junior Jonathan Ochstein started the day with a bank shot transition finish to get the Bulldogs off and rolling against Hyman Brand. Noah Weiss followed his own shot and Steve Levine swiped a pass and found Ori Guttman for a 7-0 Yavneh start. The energy was good early on and as Noah Rubinstein salvaged a late shot clock possession with a follow of a missed three pointer the Bulldogs maintained an 11-5 advantage after a single period of play. Meanwhile, the 0/16 three point drought stretching the entire tournament continued as Levine’s alleged wing triple to start the second quarter was ruled to be scraping the line. David Steinbrecher notched a steal and hit the pass ahead for a home run to Guttman and then Levine took another steal coast to coast. By the time Ochstein converted on yet another stray Yavneh jump shot’s carom the score had reached 21-11. Hyman Brand was able to end the first half on a free throw aided 5-0 run but they were super fortunate to be trailing just 21-16 at halftime. With Yavneh struggling against sub-par talent for the second straight day, they needed a spark and they got one in a big way. The best strategy to break open a close game in the second half is the standard 18-0 third quarter run. Daniel Chernikov crashed the offensive glass to get the historic third period started with a layup. Rubinstein and Levine exchanged nice passes on two more offensive trips and then Ochstein drilled an elbow jumper to make it 12 points in a row and a 33-16 margin. Two crafty Levine inbounds assists netted the last four points to make the score 39-16 and the game a virtual laugher. Hyman Brand finally scored with less than 5 seconds remaining in the third period but the Bulldogs did everything in that 7 minute segment other than the defensive shutout and of course connect on a three pointer. With the outcome no longer in question, the three point and now three point shooting futility had become a somewhat disturbing trend. 10 more misses from behind the three point line left the Bulldogs at 0/26 for the tournament, an almost unfathomable number. Meanwhile, 10 more missed free throws was starting to leave hoards of points on the table and becoming an epidemic at this tournament. Sophomore Zach Epstein brought a refreshing flavor to a game lacking any real score drama down the stretch. Epstein made all 3 of his free throws (rest of team was 3/10), completed a strong three point play, and became the first player to connect on a triple on the team’s 27th attempt but only his personal first. Junior Will Naxon was credited with the golden assist that finally put the long range shot in the basket but more importantly this was a much-needed pool win for the Bulldogs. Steve Levine led the way with 12 points and 7 assists, while Noah Weiss had a great all-around game with 10 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, and 3 blocked shots. 7 other players scored including Zach Epstein’s 8 points and Noah Rubinstein’s 7 point/5 assist outing.
With a chance to clinch an outright semifinal berth even before the final day of pool play gets under way, Yavneh would need to outlast a pesky Ramaz team. The game might as well have been dubbed Whistlemania in that by the time Noah Rubinstein connected on a jumper to make the score 2-0 with 5:17 to play in the first quarter there already been 7 whistles. Rubinstein continued his sizzling start with a triple but a 5-2 Bulldog lead quickly evaporated at the hands of a 9-0 Ramaz spurt. They were the more physical team and took advantage of a slew of Yavneh turnovers to completely flip the strong start in their favor. An 11-5 deficit after one period got completely out of hand with a barrage of Ramaz wide open three pointers to extend the run to 19-3 and the game score to an almost unmanageable 21-8. Steve Levine stopped the bleeding with back to back triples of his own, the first two in the tournament by anyone not named Zach Epstein. David Steinbrecher kept the momentum on the Bulldog sideline with a great stutter step drive to the hoop and then found Ori Guttman to slice that insurmountable lead to just 21-18. Officially haven been awaken after an extended nap in the three tournament games, Steinbrecher buried his own long range strike to cut the lead to a single point at 22-21. Ramaz scored the last three but the Bulldogs were more than IN the game at the break trailing 25-21. For a fourth straight game, Yavneh scored at least the first four points of the second half. This time, Noah Weiss found Daniel Chernikov on a nice play and moments later Rubinstein fed Jonathan Ochstein in transition to reach the mountain top and tie the score at 25-25. The game became ugly at that point with more whistles, a decade worth of missed layups that did their part to chip away at parts of the rims, and quick turnovers that left both teams begging for the other to take control of the game. The Bulldogs finally grabbed the lead back with 2:32 to play in the third period on, against all odds, four straight free throws by Guttman and Weiss. 29-25 was the game-high lead for Yavneh but lasted for about 40 seconds as Ramaz launched a 5-0 response in an instant. An aggressive Guttman drive to the basket for a three-point play grabbed one more lead back for the Bulldogs at 32-30 but Ramaz tied the score to end the third period and the inferno to follow was unexpectedly inconvenient. Including the last two points of the third period, Ramaz scored 17 points in a row to take command 47-32 with 4:37 to play in the game. Turnovers and easy missed shots initiated another Ramaz three point festival and whenever they missed their shots the Bulldogs cleared out of the way for them to recover for a second, third, and fourth possession. Many of the 17 turnovers came during this pivotal sequence to begin the final stanza and secure a 2-2 start to the tournament. The Bulldogs did respond to the run with a 6-0 stretch on Ochstein’s pair of free throws to finally break the momentum and a pair of Steinbrecher finishes at the basket. But time had run out for now with still one preliminary game and a likely semifinal to follow on Friday. Guttman and Steinbrecher led the way with 9 points apiece and Levine chipped in 8 points of his own.
Yavneh (8-5) is close to breaking through but their margin for error is now gone. They will play final preliminary game against host school Beth Tfiloh Friday in a raucous environment experienced twice last time around. While there is an outside chance that the Bulldogs could be eliminated from Semifinal contention with a loss, it is more than likely that the game will be a matter of positioning within the Semifinals to come Friday afternoon. Will Yavneh rekindle the magic from a year ago, start making their free throws, take care of the basketball, and play with the passion it will take to get back to the tournament Final that they have had circled on their calendars for over a year?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its eleventh season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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