Beth Tfiloh of Baltimore Maryland defeated Yavneh 36-32 in the Semifinals of the The 32nd Annual Joseph and Florence Weiner Memorial Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland Friday. The Bulldogs season record is now 10-5.
There will be no never-ending mystery as to why Yavneh did not Three-Peat in the 2018 Weiner Tournament. The most recent three-game losing streak that has beset the Bulldogs is not a shock, an anomaly, or some freakish series of major earth-shattering upsets. We have seen on this young season that Yavneh is an inside-based team with dominant performances at the rim and on the glass. The shooting has been outright horrendous at times and has lacked consistency outside of 15 feet in almost every game. Forced turnovers and extraordinary paint numbers have masked the shooting issues at times but the fear that this could be exposed until truly fixed was the stopping point at this tournament. A 3-game losing streak to eliminate Yavneh from playing for the championship Saturday night saw the Bulldogs make just 1/51 three pointers in that time span. The ONE (by Ofek Reef) combined with a Jonah Eber baseline jumper surged the Red-and-Black to a 5-0 advantage. The Bulldogs controlled the first period with an Eber assist to Mason Schwaber, a Reef transition finish, and an Eber big time finish in the lane. Reef’s tip-in at the first period buzzer netted Yavneh to a 13-6 lead after one period of play. In fairness, both teams were awful from the field and specifically from three point range for the entrirety of the game. A combined 3/32 from distance put extreme value on every easy basket, point in transition, and tip follow available. Reef followed a couple of his own shots, bullied the BT defense on one occasion, and drove scooping to the hoop for a 17-8 lead. Just as the Bulldogs beat one buzzer, BT scored just before halftime to stay within 19-12 at the break. Ironically, both teams were trying to push the tempo but coming up empty at every turn. The turnover numbers, or at least live ball opportunities, were low and the half ended with 19 straight misfires from downtown by the two teams combined. BT star player Harris Gartenhaus struggled through an 0-6 first half while Reef notched 13 points/10 rebounds.
The game felt like Yavneh could have finished BT with one mini-run and it seemed for all the world that it had happened. Tyler C Winton grabbed a quick steal and then finished a muscle AND-ONE for a 22-12 lead that seemed insurmountable. BT responded, however, with a tournament saving 5-0 run in an instant followed by a questionable 10-second violation, a count similar to one in Abilene a couple years earlier. Gartenhaus finally scored to trim the lead to just a single point and almost gave his team the lead but a crafty Winton rebound shovel pass to Eber notched an enormous basket to surge ahead 24-21. Eber, who along with Reef battled all game long, hit another runner to keep the Bulldogs ahead 26-25 at the end of three periods of play. Eber was fantastic in the clutch with the defense suffocating Reef for most of this game but the three pointers just would not fall….for anyone when the Bulldogs needed that one shot spark. BT climbed the mountain and took their first lead at 29-28 with 5:02 to play but a gorgeous Reef dish out of a triple time found Freshman Ben Rael for the biggest and most gritty basket of his young career, a strong finish in traffic. BT would swing ahead with a three pointer from Gav Landau, who led all scorers with 20 points and was sensational in this semifinal. Trailing 32-30, it looked like the Bulldogs could pull this out still as Winton pick-pocketed a basketball to Eber for yet another finish. But alas the final four points went to Beth Tfiloh and unanswered prayer after unanswered prayer from the land of the three went unheard and padded the 1/51 nightmare that was the last three games from distance. Ofek Reef led the way for the Bulldogs with 13 points and 19 rebounds, yet another double-double. Jonah Eber added 12 points in a passionate effort to try and drive this game home.
Yavneh (10-5) will play for Third Place Saturday night and begin the road to recovery. This team has shown the dominance inside and will look to get that back first as they attempt to salvage a winning record in Baltimore for this tournament and break this mini-rut.
The Kennel Report, now in its 15th season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
TL-BW-SP-BR
PTST3