Yavneh defeated Rockwall Heritage Christian 68-28 Thursday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 13-7 (4-0).
Yavneh used an inside-oriented attack for the third time this week in dismantling yet another district opponent. A 14th straight TAPPS 3A victory in as many chances could easily have been a tedious look-ahead game but the Bulldogs were focused right from the start and never looked back to complete a trio of wire to wire victories. Steve Levine at long last looked like he had overcome vacation jet-lag as he lobbed to Daniel Chernikov, connected on a smooth wing triple from a great dish by Noah Rubinstein, and then swiped one of his patented steals for a full court layup (left-handed of course). The 9-3 start was punctuated by a great defensive play by Jonathan Ochstein as he slid into the lane to take a charge with 4:28 remaining in the opening stanza. Junior David Steinbrecher was scoring from all over the court on this night, starting with a sneaky finish in the lane off a nice setup by Levine. Senior Grant Prengler was locked and loaded as well, knocking down a shot from long distance off an Ochstein pass for the first double digit lead of the night. Prengler passed the three point baton to Steinbrecher on the very next offensive trip for an 18-5 lead as Yavneh was literally doing whatever they wanted. 22-5 was the lead after a quarter of play with the Bulldogs forcing 11 turnovers and nearly doubling HCA’s field goal percentage. Heritage Christian tried the full-court press to begin the second period but the only thing that accomplished was spreading out their defense to watch Yavneh score at a different viewing angle. Zach Epstein completed the simple press break by dishing the basketball to Steinbrecher for an easy layup. The Bulldog lead swelled to 20 points on one Levine steal that morphed into a Chernikov finish. One last first half Levine theft became an easy transition finish to beat the halftime buzzer and secure a 38-10 advantage. The 28 point margin might as well have been 50 as HCA simply had no answer to anything Yavneh threw at them. The Bulldog bench (15 points) had out-scored the entire team, they were out-rebounded 25-8, gave the ball away 16 times, and shot just 25% from the floor.
Daniel Chernikov was the biggest of several issues for Heritage Christian. He scored at will in the paint and used the third period to do most of his damage. Even when he missed shots, it was clear that he was just padding his rebounding statistics as the only hands to connect with his errant field goals were his own. One very nice play that HCA could only watch was a big to big connection from Noah Weiss to Chernikov for an unguardable finish that had the feel of a munchkins scene from The Wizard of Oz. Steinbrecher tallied three more points on an old-fashioned three point play with a no-doubt free throw for a 53-17 score towards the end of the third period. 57-20 would be the lead heading to the final quarter, an eight minutes that certainly did not decide the outcome of this game. Chernikov led all scorers with 18 points and 11 rebounds in a solid double-double effort. David Steinbrecher poured in a career-high 15 points on sizzling 6/8 shooting and Steve Levine was most definitely back to normal with 13 points, 6 steals, and 5 assists with only a pair of missed shots as well. Grant Prengler pitched in 7 points of his own and Jonathan Ochstein continued his solid play collecting 7 rebounds and distributing 4 assists to open up the court. Sophomore Zach Epstein also pulled down 7 rebounds, 5 of them offensive which is a family tradition.
Yavneh (13-7) is once again at that point in their district schedule that requires a signature moment. A year ago it was Brook Hill of Bullard that was all the experts lock to run away with the district. Two losses to the Bulldogs ended their hopes and chased them from 3A altogether. Monday marks the first match-up with Cedar Hill’s Trinity Christian, a perennial 4A power that is now supposedly the “team to beat” in District 3. Ranked #1 small-private school in Texas and 18-1 overall this season, Trinity’s pressure defense and depth pose concerns but no more-so than those of mighty Brook Hill a year ago. One team will walk out of the SRC Monday night with their first 3A district loss ever. The other will be on the fast-track to winning the 9-team district. For the second full week of January it does not get much bigger than this match-up in North Texas….unless you are visiting from Oregon or Ohio maybe. Is a steadily improving Yavneh team ready to write their legacy and compete for a state title?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!!!!!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its eleventh season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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