Yavneh defeated Beren Academy of Houston 62-25 Friday afternoon in the first semifinal of the Dr. Robert Baruch Teaching Tolerance Tournament. The Bulldogs are now 1-0.
Determined to prove that the run and gun, 5-in, 5out frantic style that the Bulldogs used to win the Tier III championship in New York last April could work long term, Yavneh spent an entire off-season tweaking it. One game in, neither critics nor supporters can knock the success. At least not yet!! The system, based on the one run by Grinnell College in Iowa, is predicated on subbing players nearly every minute in groups of 5 at a time in order to run the other team ragged by pummeling threes, getting to the basket, pressing the living daylights out of the other team, and pressuring them to ultimate exhaustion by the final period. In the first experimentation of this system after an off-season of practice, the Bulldogs made their statement with an almost perfect first quarter, erasing any doubt of victory by halftime, and cruising to the finish line with their three freshmen at the controls. Each of the two groups has a prolific scorer in Erez Krengel and David Naxon respectively. William Zalstein and Butch Shawel are the two floor generals that anchor the two teams. Sam Pulitzer and newly inserted Senior Charlie Saginaw, and Aviv Schor and Michael San Soucie set up shop as the posts for each team. Finally, Freshman Josh Karnett and marksman Bradley Alhadef round out the groups as off guards. Freshmen Joe Lerer and Miles Pulitzer are the six member of each group. The scorers came out gunning Friday as Erez Krengel nailed a three point shot just seconds after the opening tip went Yavneh’s direction. By the time that David Naxon’s group had finished their first shift the score was 13-1. It could be argued that the game was long over with 3:27 to play in the first quarter when David Naxon broke away from the pack after one of Beren’s 39 turnovers. The former “Super Soph” who worked hard during the off-season to become the “Jumpin Junior” threw down his first official High School slam dunk, electrifying the almost capacity crowd. By the end of the first quarter the score was 28-5. A first half of Beren turnovers and Yavneh highlights, the Bulldogs led 42-13. They were led by Erez Krengel’s 13 points on 5/6 shooting including 3/4 from three point range. David Naxon all 9 of his points in the first half. William Zalstein helped the cause with 5 first half assists. The second half consisted of the younger guys getting involved to close out the game. Josh Karnett and Joe Lerer put on a freshman to freshman show, connecting a couple of times in the open floor. Big men Charlie Saginaw and Sam Pulitzer chipped in with 9 rebounds apiece and Charlie took the only charge of the game, his first as a Bulldog. If the first half was any indication, Yavneh may be running themselves into great success this season. If the second half was any indication, Yavneh has some great depth as everyone seemed to contribute from top to bottom. In this system, if the biggest concern is certain players having too much energy, it is almost certain that things are going pretty well.
Yavneh (1-0) will likely get their first true test Saturday night against Denver ’s Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy at 9:30pm Dallas time.
The Kennel Report is written by Zack Pollack