Yavneh defeated Avalon 44-39 Tuesday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 12-4.
It was not pretty but Jordan Prescott parlayed a fourth quarter three point barrage with Sam Kleinman’s two clutch free throws and a rebound to bail out of rural Avalon with a seventh straight win. Kleinman started early with a breakaway layup but the home team blitzed the Bulldogs 12-4 at the start. For a second straight night a small town team executed against Yavneh early and often. Shot selection was again the biggest nemesis with very few Yavneh shots coming inside the three point arc early% on. A Prescott mid range hit minimized the first period damage to 12-6 but the concern tonight was the field goal percentage. The stats were flipped from a night ago with the Bulldogs this time being out shot 62-30%. The offense started to show flickers of momentum in the second period fueled by a nice post to post pass from Senior Captain Jake Greif to classmate Ben Romaner. Prescott tripled for the lead at 15-14 capping an 11-2 run that stretched over two periods. Aaron Murray drilled his own three ball for Avalon to end the half and retake the lead at 20-19. The Bulldogs were clearly relying on the outside too much. They had a grand total of 0 free throws and were 1/6 from behind the arc. Avalon was still shooting 50% to Yavneh’s 34% but for a change the Bulldogs stayed close by dominating the rebounds. For the first time this season they allowed 0 offensive rebounds for an entire half. Unfortunately, there were still 16 minutes for Avalon to change that statistic.
The Bulldogs started three posts out of halftime but great looks inside led to no points and once again Avalon pulled in front 24-19. It was at that point that Yavneh engineered a 6-0 spurt by inserting a smaller lineup. Senior Kevin Sulski’s steal and breakaway layup for the lead set the stage for a see-saw end to the third period. Josh Lynn was inserted several times in the closing seconds of the third period before referees waived him in, out, and back in. While that series made everyone quite dizzy, Lynn had no trouble tripling from the left corner to give the Bulldogs a 31-28 lead heading to the final stanza. The fourth quarter featured a shootout of a different kind between Prescott and Avalon’s hybrid big man Jose Romero. Between Bulldog turnovers Prescott connected on a three pointer to stake the road warriors to a 4 point lead but Romero found a way to consistently get position at the other end. Almost remarkably, Romero erased the four point lead on a single possession to tie the game. He scored with a foul and manage to scoop up the ball on the missed free throw for the tie. Prescott responded, however, with a pair of trifectas for a game-high 40-34 lead with 2:54 remaining. Romero and Prescott traded drives to the basket, a shuffle to the hoop and a thunderous stampede respectively. No matter the different styles, the two scorers were putting on a show. Romero even took his game outside with a three ball that trimmed the margin to 42-39 Yavneh and 23.4 seconds left. Prescott needed some help without Adam Karnett in the lineup on this night and he got just that in perennial X Factor Sam Kleinman. Two clutch Kleinman free throws and an opportunistic rebound sealed Avalon’s fate at 44-39. Prescott led all scorers with 25 points and 9 rebounds. Ben Romaner also helped to control the paint with 9 boards of his own. Guards Sulski and Kleinman also paced the team combining for 10 points, 7 assists, and 7 steals.
Yavneh (12-4) won ugly but escaped another tough environment and ran their win streak to 7 games in the process, They now have their sights set on eight straight as Lutheran comes to the SRC for a rematch of an earlier contest. The Bulldogs won a close in November at their place and will look to make this a much better effort with just 2 games remaining in Calendar 2011.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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