Yavneh defeated Lutheran High School 50-41 Monday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 7-4.
Jordan Prescott scored 25 points as the Bulldogs sleep-walked their way through a sluggish 32 minutes, finally pulling away late in the final period Monday. The game started at the snails pace that most of the night featured. Senior Captain Jake Greif connected from close range for the game’s first points almost 3 minutes into the contest. While it was apparent that Yavneh was the superior team, missed shots from both close range and the free throw line kept Lutheran close nearly the entire night. Sophomore Itai Guttman seemed dominant at times but spent most of the night fighting himself to go towards the basket instead of away from it. Two three point play opportunities in the opening quarter could have provided separation but this was not the night to be a Yavneh Bulldog at the foul line. As it was, though, Yavneh led 12-9 behind an active first period from Senior Kevin Sulski. It looked like the separation would be provided early in the second period when Prescott nailed a wing three ball to open things up 17-11. Sulski continued to make an impact taking a huge charge. The Bulldogs led 22-17 at halftime on the heels of two big plays at the end of the first half: First, Adam Karnett finished a look-away layup followed by a Ben Romaner three point play minus the free throw. Yavneh outclassed Lutheran on the boards but the game was close thanks to 6 missed free throws and a buffet of missed point-blank layups.
As is customary for this team, the Bulldogs gave up a run to start the third period as always. This time Lutheran rattled off 4 in a row until Greif followed his own miss to build back the lead to 24-21. Lutheran slowly but surely chipped away at the lead missed lay-in after missed lay-in. In a scene straight out of a Twilight Zone episode Lutheran unbelievably captured the lead at 28-26 in the final minute of the third period. Missed free throws, missed layups, players diving out the way of oncoming basketballs, the Bulldogs truly looked disheveled. As the third quarter ended with Lutheran ahead 28-27 an offensive explosion was needed. Prescott was equal to the task, scoring 15 of his game-high 25 points in the final 8 minutes. Guttman finally found the magnetic force of the basket and complemented Prescott with the aid of an effective full court press. The lead see-sawed for the first couple minutes until the two hooked up on a Prescott three point play for a 32-30 lead. The Yavneh pressure caused just enough stress for the Lutheran cause to be thwarted in crunch time. Prescott delivered a turnaround mid-range jumper to stretch the lead to 41-36 with 2:11 remaining. Sulski sky-ed for an offensive rebound on yet another Bulldog free throw miss and Guttman followed with the first completed three point play by a post player all night (on the fourth attempt) The lead had swelled to 46-39 and Lutheran clearly did not have enough fire power to recover with so little time. 19/52 from the field including 1/7 from three point land was not the recipe for success. The 11/20 free throws probably did not help either but the Bulldogs produced in the fourth quarter nearly matching the total output from the first 24 minutes combined. Any road win which features a fourth quarter comeback is positive but improvements will need to be made during a week that will see three more consecutive road tests to come.
Prescott led the way with 25 points while Guttman notched a career high 14 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 4 steals. Also of note, both Karnett and Sulski tallied 5 assists each. Yavneh (7-4) will be at Cambridge in the first of two straight nights where a host opponent will be trying to avenge an earlier season loss to the Bulldogs.
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