Yavneh defeated Houston’s Beren Academy 51-29 Thursday evening in the second preliminary round game of The 3rd Annual David A. Yaffee Memorial Basketball Tournament. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 20-5.
This time Yavneh did not mess around in taking care of business early, getting rest for the starters, and securing a spot in the tournament semifinals on Friday. The Bulldogs used a high pressure attack to turn Beren over time and again early in the game. Senior Erez Krengel, who had struggled so against Kushner in the morning game, showed up to play. He scored 10 first quarter points on 4/5 shooting to lead Yavneh to a 20-8 lead. 10 early Beren turnovers gave the Bulldogs the ammunition they needed to take away the raucous crowd. All in all, Beren gave the ball away 24 different times. Almost all were in Yavneh’s scoring zone, which only compounded the problem. While the lead was a mere 9 points at the break, the Bulldog starters came back to end the game in the opening 4 minutes minutes of the second half. Senior Baruch Shawel led all scorers with 16 points, highlighted by a great second half in which he both shot the ball and got to the basket. The deciding runs off the full court press were made possible due to Sophomore Josh Karnett’s 4 steals. Krengel also stole three basketballs in breaking the game open. He also added 15 points in the winning cause. The entire team got to play in the contest. Freshman Shimi Wolk’s late fourth quarter assist that defyed time, gravity, and the rules of basketball, gave the crowd something to go crazy about in a somewhat stagnant contest.
Yavneh (20-5) went 2-0 in pool play for the tournament , and is now ready to play in a semifinal matchup at 1:30pm on Friday. The opponent will likely be Toronto’s CHAT. The final two games of this ultra-competitive tournament should be just that, and will give the Bulldogs a perspective about where they stand heading to the YU Tournament in New York scheduled for late March.