Yavneh defeated Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh 62-50 in the SEMIFINALS of the The Joseph and Florence Weiner Memorial Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland Friday. The win improves the Bulldogs season record to 16-3.
Once again Yavneh will be in a tournament Final on a Saturday night in Baltimore, Maryland. Handling a hostile atmosphere and managing to stay out of their own way just enough Friday afternoon, the Bulldogs will indeed have the chance to avenge their lone loss of the 6 games played in this tournament for a championship. In front of a packed gym with mostly Beth Tfiloh fans, and having already played a strange final preliminary round game against the same team on the same court, Sam Kleinman found Adam Karnett off the opening tip to grab a 2-0 lead and calm everyone’s nerves. Both teams executed some great offense early as the score was 4-4 not 2 minutes in. The morning game was a battle of mostly reserve players that played to a 36-23 score. This contest was much higher octane with so much on the line. Yavneh broke the tie with a nice 5-0 run on the back of a Kleinman triple followed by a Karnett lane floater. Adam Karnett seemed locked in throughout the game and it really gave his team the confidence that the better team was wearing black and red. A BT 7-2 response seemed to turn the game around as the Bulldogs were called for 7 fouls in less than 6 minutes. Of those, Seniors Sam Kleinman and David Rudomin both were saddled on the bench with 2 early fouls each. For a moment it seemed that the roof was caving in on Yavneh and that the game would get away. Just in time, however, Itai Guttman and Adam Schor imposed their dominance and teamed up for a 5-0 finish to the first period for a 17-12 lead. The frenetic pace of the game and the crowd intensity was nothing new for the Bulldogs but the bigs could not struggle in this half with the core guards on the bench. Guttman got a key steal and Schor played volleyball with himself on two consecutive occasions to capture a 22-12 advantage. The Bulldogs put on a different type of run in this instance, and when Itai Guttman found brother Ori for a huge triple in the right corner Beth Tfiloh was starting to implode in front of their entire institution. The two Guttman brothers hooked up one more time on a cutting finish by Ori for a 29-16 edge but BT had a 7-0 response to cut the lead to two possessions. Just when it looked as if the Bulldogs would not get away with having foul trouble and a double-digit lead at the half, Adam Karnett was once again there for the rescue. A nice follow of his own shot and then a steal that turned into a full-speed 360 spin finish around a defender secured a 33-23 halftime edge.
With his team back at full strength, an over-rested Kleinman came up with thefts on the first two defensive possessions of the second half, scoring and assisting his way to a 39-25 game-high lead. BT used a 10-3 run to carve the lead back to 7 points but the intensity of the game then played a critical role in yet another momentum shift. For the third straight game, Yavneh was the beneficiary of an opponent technical foul as the home team seemed to be losing just a bit more composure than the rudely welcomed visitors from Dallas. That sequence allowed the Bulldogs to keep a 9-point lead after three periods of play and yet another Kleinman steal pushed the lead back to double figures at 46-35. BT’s Jordan King briefly caught fire with back to back triples, making the score a precarious 46-41 with 5:05 remaining. Sam Kleinman, however, had an answer to every Beth Tfiloh player, coach, and fan in a banana costume suit. He drilled a wing three pointer to push the lead back to 8 points and then Karnett found Schor underneath for the 10-point lead at 51-41 with 3:58 left. A finishing Karnett to Kleinman TD pass minus was the exclamation point even if there was no extra point kicked. Kleinman led all scorers with 20 points, Schor up 16 points/14 assists, and Karnett 13 points/7 assists all leading the way.
Yavneh (16-3) will play for the tournament championship Saturday Night at 8:30pm Dallas time (9:30 Eastern) against nationally ranked #4 Heschel.
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