Yavneh defeated Vanguard College Preparatory School of Waco 63-58 in Overtime Thursday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 4-3.
Yavneh tossed away another pair of large leads Thursday but this time managed to finish the deal in extra time in a TAPPS 3A non-district heavyweight battle. Vanguard, who has been a regular in 2A Final Fours over the last several years, got its first taste of big time 3A basketball and just could not get over the hump of what would have been a great road comeback. The questions as to the whereabouts of Steve Levine were answered early and often in this contest, as the Junior guard scorched to an 8 point first quarter. He found Sophomore Daniel Chernikov for a nice push-off layup on an inbounds play early to gain a 4-3 advantage. Vanguard, however, reeled off the next 6 points in a row to take command 9-4. At a time when the Bulldogs were teetering on not believing they truly belonged in this game, a key 4 point possession changed the entire complexion of the night. A 1/2 free throw trip led to the ball trickling out of bounds and new life for that Yavneh possession. On the ensuing sequence, Chernikov found Levine for a corner triple to slice 4 points off the lead. The next trip down, Chernikov returned the pass to Levine for a sudden 10-9 edge for the Bulldogs. The Yavneh run stretched to 8-0 on a Noah Rubinstein rainbow from the elbow and was a perfect 10-0 stretch on Jonathan Ochstein’s tip in of yet another Bulldog missed free throw. Clearly the formula to any 10-0 run is to use missed charity shots as book-ends in the opening period: Basketball 101. Aided by a Levine wing triple, Yavneh led 21-16 after one quarter of play. For a team that has mightily struggled from long distance, the Bulldogs were cashing in early as Junior David Steinbrecher drilled a three ball from his licensed corner to create a 28-20 edge for his team. Vanguard’s mammoth Ty Sadler was a load to deal with all night long from both inside and outside. Combined with a host of shooters, the visitors had depth that challenged that of the Bulldogs. The 8 point lead had all but disappeared when Levine found Noah Weiss for a sideways contorted finish at the hoop. Senior Ori Guttman’s finger-roll three point play from straight-away put an exclamation point on as solid a half Yavneh has played all season. A 35-27 lead behind 50% field goal shooting was primarily based on the team’s ability to off-set Vanguard from both a turnover and rebounding perspective. 8 second chance points on 6 costly offensive rebounds allowed actually were the only thing preventing the Bulldogs from an even bigger edge at the break.
Yavneh has struggled putting teams away with multi-posession leads this season and tonight was no exception. Vanguard scored the first 6 points out of halftime in nearly 4 minutes of game time. These droughts have plagued the Bulldogs at times with the usual culprits of missed layups and turnovers turning into Vanguard transition gifts. Levine’s patented step-through look away driving layup ended this dry-spell and established a 37-33 edge with 4:15 to play in the third period. With Sadler picking up steam and the lead suddenly all but gone, this Yavneh team ended the third quarter doing what it does best. Ochstein made a great pass to Chernikov for a run-starting finish which seemed to open the passing flood gates. Ori Guttman took it from there and put on a passing clinic on the next several possessions, covering the end of the third and beginning of the fourth periods. First, he made a great leave-off pass to Chernikov right at the baseline. Next, he lasered a pass to Steinbrecher in that corner for another trio of points. The quarter break must have been too long for Vanguard because the fourth started with the identical Guttman to Steinbrecher corner three pointer that seemed like a re-run and completed the 8-0 spurt. Vanguard, however, showed their experience and star power by engineering a 10-1 response over the next 3:17 behind Sadler, Sadler, and more Sadler. A pair of three pointers completed this game-tying explosion, the first of which somehow banked in off the window from the far corner. Having lost another fourth quarter lead of substance, Yavneh was determined not to fall behind late. Rubinstein, who played most of the point guard minutes, controlled most of the game and made the pass to Chernikov that kept the Bulldogs in the lead. Levine found Weiss on the next possession to break another tie and keep the home team in front 54-52 with 3:01 remaining. Weiss also gobbled up a critical rip-away rebound as he dislodged both the basketball and a chance to tie from Sadler’s arms. Unable to capitalize on the possession with the lead, Vanguard was able to tie the game and actually missed a point-blank shot that would have put them ahead for the first time since 9-8 with 30.1 seconds left. Both teams missed some chip shots to end regulation and 54-54 was going to need an additional 4 minutes on this night.
Guttman shot out of a cannon to start Overtime and earned a pair of immediate free throws off a nice drive to the rim. That and an identical sequence just moments later gave Guttman a quick 4 points but each lead of a single basket was matched by Sadler, who was carrying his team far away from home. For the second straight game, though, Ori Guttman played his best basketball in the final stanza. The 58-58 tie would be the game’s final deadlock with 1:27 remaining in the extra session. Guttman gallivanted to the lane from far beyond the three point area for the finger roll finish that put the Bulldogs in front for good at 60-58. A Noah Weiss ginormous rebound in plenty of traffic and 3/5 free throw shooting by Chernikov and Rubinstein in the final 35 seconds put the game on ice, notching a huge win for this team. Daniel Chernikov led 4 players into double-figures with 14 points. Steve Levine added 12 points with 6 assists and David Steinbrecher drilled the three triples to comprise most of his 11 points. Ori Guttman chipped in 10 points, 6 of which came in the decisive Overtime period, and has now missed only 3 of his 17 free throws in a two-game span. Noah Weiss grabbed 11 rebounds, many of which came extremely late in the game. Jonathan Ochstein was another key to the Bulldog rebounding success with 7 of his own. Noah Rubinstein played a solid all-around game with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
Yavneh (4-3) will continue its home-stand, welcoming a pair of 5A Dallas-area public schools early next week. Of the three TAPPS showdowns from the last 7 days, the Bulldogs beat by far the deepest and talented team while struggling in losses to the other two. That permutation likely means that this was a momentum building breakout game that will be remembered as a turning point for the season. With players filling new roles, the upcoming week could very well be the first time this newly arranged jigsaw puzzle starts to make complete sense.
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!!!!!!!
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