Yavneh defeated Shelton 56-41 Tuesday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 3-1.
Winning on the road early in the season is never a work of art and Yavneh proved that to be the case in stumbling to a third straight blowout victory Tuesday. Only 24 hours removed from a nearly flawless free throw spectacle, the Bulldogs found a way to miss 12 free throws on this night, including one before the game even started. Awarded a pair of technical free throws before the clock began to tick due to a pre-game warm-ups dunking violation by Shelton, Yavneh started with much needed momentum away from home for the very first time. Shelton, on the other hand, was playing in its first game and seemed disorganized all night long. The slam dunking in pregame warm-ups was pretty much their high point as they proceeded to shoot a mere 36% from the field and gave away the ball 24 times. Junior Steve Levine provided much of the offense, bursting out of the gate with 4 points in 5 seconds of game action. On pace at that point to score 1536 points for the game, Levine had to settle for only the game-high 18. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs built a 6-0 advantage by simply making less costly mistakes than their counterparts. Shelton settled in nicely and responded with a 12-3 run fueled by Yavneh missed free throws, some careless turnovers, and the proportionately deafening home crowd. Tested for the first time since that first game of the season, the Bulldogs were able to finish the opening stanza with a nice 6-0 response to grab a 15-12 lead. Senior Ori Guttman found Daniel Chernikov at the basket, and then Sophomore Noah Rubinstein swung his team into the lead with a pair of great helpers. First, he found Levine for another long distance hit and then combined with Chernikov to make a one-time connection with Senior Noah Weiss at the buzzer. Levine had a tough time making layups early on but started the second period with a streak-breaking run of three layups in a row. That combined with a couple Rubinstein finds of Junior Jonathan Ochstein at the basket netted a 23-14 edge. In all, the Bulldog spurt was 14-2 spanning over two quarters and seizing complete control of a dangerous game. A 27-16 halftime advantage seemed fortunate but as careless as Shelton was the lead could have been considerably larger. Neither team shot 32% from the field with Yavneh at a paltry 29% with 8 missed free throws and 8 turnovers. Shelton led rebounding by a wide margin but 13 Steve Levine first half points, 15 forced turnovers and a free throw attempt differential of 17-3 kept the Bulldogs in the lead. Overall, an extremely ugly half of basketball was the end product.
After an extended halftime, Guttman connected on a baseline jumper to extend the lead almost instantly. His acrobatic finish at the basket off a great pass from Ochstein established a then game-high 16 point lead as Yavneh began t pull away. Once again the passing was spectacular with 16 assists on 20 made baskets. Ultimately, through all the less than stellar basketball being played on both sides, Yavneh’s sharing of the ball was the one difference maker that Shelton had zero answers for. The third period fittingly ended with maybe the best of all the passes on this night, no-look Guttman to Noah Weiss connection from the wing to the rim. The 39-21 lead going to the fourth period got 5 points larger over the first couple minutes of the final quarter of play. Ochstein drilled an elbow jumper off a pass from Weiss, who bounced back from an iffy first half. Weiss seemed tentative early on but had a remarkable last 16 minutes to tally his first double-double. Every time Shelton missed a shot down the stretch it seemed as if he ended up with the basketball. The game-high lead for the Bulldogs came on a wild sequence by pioneering guard Grant Prengler. His Air to There three point shot sequence saw Prengler instantly gather his own bare misfire to drill a triple from the same spot on the court. With that, a 46-23 lead seemed more than safe with 6:35 to play. 89 seconds later the feeling was much different as Shelton managed to reel off 10 points in a row. That improbable spurt in just 1:29 of game action left just over 5 minutes for the Bulldogs to protect a 13 point lead. Chernikov, who played sparingly over the last two games in light of his foul a minute 12-step program, was kind enough to deliver a run-stopping much needed bucket before officially being disqualified from the game. Weiss followed that hoop with one of his own to re-establish a 50-33 margin, enough for a coast to the finish. After allowing just 21 points through three periods of play, Yavneh yielded 20 points in the final 8 minutes, making it a cool 45 in the last two fourth quarters combined. Steve Levine led the way with 18 points and 5 steals, while Noah Weiss poured in the 11 point, 15 rebound, and 6 steal double-double. Three other players added 6 points, the most efficient of which was Jonathan Ochstein on perfect 3/3 shooting. Noah Rubinstein’s 5 assists led the vaunted Bulldog passing attack which to this point has been the catalyst to a 3-1 start.
Yavneh (3-1) proved they can win away from home. Now, an early season non-district TAPPS test on the road awaits them Thursday. They will travel to play Fort Worth’s Bethesda Christian in a game that will be the first indication of the TAPPS 3A landscape for this year. BCS fell victim to Lubbock Christian in last year’s playoffs exactly one round before the Bulldogs Showdown in Colt Mc Coyville aka Tuscola. Will this be the first single-digit differential game for Yavneh this season or a fifth straight decisive contest?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its eleventh season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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