Yavneh defeated The Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns 61-57 Sunday afternoon in the 5th place game at the Memphis Cooper Invitational Tournament. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 3-1.
Yavneh built a 16-point lead midway through the third period and then hung on for dear life in claiming 5th place at the Cooper Invitational in Memphis Sunday. The game started with a flurry of points as both teams began red hot from the outside. Senior Sam Kleinman found classmate Adam Schor for a lob to begin the scoring. Adam Karnett completed a nice drive as well before the game broke out with an early three point shootout. Kleinman and Karnett matched a pair of HAFTR three balls for an 11-11 draw. Kleinman drilled another one for 14-11 and the Bulldogs held an 18-16 edge after one period of play. The two teams combined for 7 triples in all over the opening 8 minutes. The lead grew to as many as 5 points before a quick HAFTR 5-0 run made the score 25-24. Schor responded with a three point play that actually included the made free throw for a change to re-establish a 4 point edge. Yavneh’s offensive rebounding problems continued but the quick pace was starting to wear on the methodical HAFTR squad. The lead ballooned to 36-26 in favor of Yavneh for halftime due to a mere 6 turnovers charged to the Bulldogs and 8 points from both Kleinman and Itai Guttman.
Guttman was fired up to start the second half as he tipped in basketballs on the first two offensive possessions. HAFTR was on the brink of folding their tents and heading back to their island when Kleinman went coast to coast for a game-high 16 point lead. Moments later he swiped a basketball which led to a seemingly finishing three point play with 3:57 to play in the third period. Suddenly, however, the Bulldogs began to all the things that cost them Friday morning. All at once, passes were going directly into the hands of HAFTR players, a Manu Ginolbili look-alike was running through Yavneh’s defense, and one more time HAFTR misses were bouncing right back to them. The lead was just 49-43 when David Steinbrecher found Kleinman for yet another three pointer to end the third period with a 52-43 edge. HAFTR kept the pressure on in the final chapter, with the lead shrinking by the minute. The lead was a mere one possession at 55-52 when the Bulldogs connected on just a single free throw two consecutive trips down the floor. Ari Baratz of HAFTR scored 9 consecutive points towards the end of the 27-11 run that shocked Bulldog Nation. Baratz’s heroics seemed to fall short when Yavneh, holding now a 56-54 lead with 2:16 to play, got a big time play from their most revered Senior Captain. Adam Karnett stepped into the lane and took the biggest charge in his school’s Cooper Tournament history to retain possession with 1:46 to play. The world knows Karnett can score with anyone in High School basketball but through 4 games he has silenced any and all critics by letting the game come to him and being willing to do whatever it takes for his team to win. That play exemplifies what makes the Bulldogs so dangerous in having a veteran leader to go along with its incredible depth. This contest, however, would come down to a pair of directional spins for basketballs on the rim. David Rudomin extended the lead to 57-54 with a free throw on the next trip but Baratz answered with an impossible fade-away three point blast to tie the game at 57-57, completing the comeback with 1:13 remaining. In completely fitting fashion, the deciding basket was like so many Yavneh possessions this weekend. A careless pass was picked off by HAFTR only to set Sam Kleinman up in prime position to steal the ball back and throw a wounded duck knuckle-ball delivery to Rudomin for a layup that hung on the rim for almost a full second before dropping through the basket. With just 30.7 seconds to play, HAFTR got a clean look right at the rim but their layup attempt dropped into the hands of Adam Karnett after its visit rolling around the rim. Karnett calmly drilled a pair of free throws to put the game away. Kleinman led the Bulldogs with 17 points and 7 assists while Itai Guttman recorded another double-double with 15 points/12 rebounds. Karnett and Rudomin combined for another 17 points and made key plays in the final moments that saved the day.
Yavneh (3-1) finishes in 5th place for the weekend and now has a true measuring stick for where they are as compared to the other top Jewish High school basketball teams. There is no question that they can play with any of the top teams, having beat the #5 and #6 team in the tournament as well as gift-wrapping the #1 seed a quarterfinal victory. The challenge for this team will be developing an identity with all the various talents on the roster and molding that into one complete unit that can feed off each other to win games. All the tools are in place and it could simply come down to whether the turnovers and offensive rebounds allowed can be limited to a magic number that will make this group unbeatable. Will that double dose of Kryptonite take an extended vacation until March?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!!!!!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its tenth season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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