Yavneh defeated The Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto 53-31 and then Mae Boyar High School of Jerusalem Israel 37-36 in the third/fourth of five preliminary games at the The Joseph and Florence Weiner Memorial Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland Thursday. The Bulldogs season record now stands at a somehow, someway still unvanquished 11-0.
Yavneh has now won 11 straight games in Baltimore, 17 of their last 18 games in Baltimore, and now 11 straight to start the 2017-18 season. To say, however, that these Bulldogs were unchallenged is definitely no longer the case. After two gritty wins Wednesday, both games Thursday included heart-stopping moments, challenging and struggling situations, and of course plenty of drama. CHAT, a fiery team that always seems to push Yavneh to the brink, completely dominated play for the entire first period Thursday morning. Slowly and methodically, with pinpoint passing, and finishes at the rim, the Canadian-based version of Hoosiers could do no wrong for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs could not hit the broad side of a barn. 2/11 field goals, 0/4 free throws, and a big negative 5 on the boards dug Yavneh into a 14-4 hole through one period of play. The shooting struggles were nothing new to this tournament through 2 games plus a quarter but this time the forced turnovers had not bailed them out. The Red-and-Black seemed nervous, agitated, and ready for their first loss of the season. A trip to the ATM, however, kick-started a second period run that may be remembered as historic one day. Sophomore Tyler Winton’s TW3 high off the facing of (sub your favorite US or Canadian) bank careened into the basket and set in motion maybe the most important run of the season to date. Suddenly, Griffin Levine Sr seemed to have room to operate and in turn found the ultimate gas pedal. A sweet finish in traffic from the midrange, a second assist on a second Winton trifecta, another jumper of his own, another finish off a pass from Pierce Bell, and finally an out-of-bounds under setup to Ofek Reef produced 14 points in just 3:30 of game time. 6 second period CHAT giveaways aided the Bulldogs and captured the lead at 18-17 on a 14-3 monumental run. It was as if there was a giant hot air balloon of momentum and all of Bulldog nation was within. A Reef follow and Bell’s body control finish with contact pushed the lead to multi-possessions at 22-17 and CHAT had simply had enough. Jonah Eber notched a steal and scored on the first ever AND WHATEVER with a crafty left-handed scoop finish with the harm. Junior Zach Bernstein pick-pocketed a CHAT player to find Eber for the legendary finish, who also went a mile high into the air to emphatically end the first half. A 25-3 shellacking in the second period was exactly the confidence boost this team needed. Despite 1/8 free throw shooting, the Bulldogs had completely turned around their worst period of the year with arguably their best. Yavneh put the game on cruise control in the second half and found their groove at both ends. Micah Romaner, one of the heroes from Wednesday, fed Levine for a wing triple. Levine also entertained the near capacity crowd with a lefty change-of-pace scoop finish with the stutter step. Bell reverse swooped to the hoop and secured a 43-24 advantage after three periods of play. There would be no letdown in the final 8 minutes as Yavneh stars continued to shine. Senior Seth Gerstenfeld took a pair of physical charges but the sport-court floor remained intact after both. The first real production of The Super Sophs were easily the highlight of the final 4 minutes. Eber found Mason Schwaber for one of his three fourth period baskets. Eber also provided a helping hand on the Schwaber sky floater high above the clouds. While Eber and Schwaber were padding the lead, one CHAT defender was requesting that padding to be put on the floor trying to account for Winton’s array of dribbling moves. While that particular player made the gym floor into his own holiday ice rink at the mall with no skates, Junior Eli Minsky had no trouble using it as a landing spot after the greatest boxout in school history. The textbook pile-drive and secured landing actually drew requests from the elementary school crowd for clinics between games. The Big Three all scored in double digits with Griffin Levine notching 16, Ofek Reef with 11, and Pierce Bell adding 10 points. Winton and Schwaber each contributed 6 points, and Eber tallied 5 steals and 5 more assists (11 in his last pair of games combined) Also of note, Eli Minsky and Reef picked up 6 rebounds apiece, a key to seizing control of the game.
Mae Boyar is without a doubt the most improved team in this tournament. After shocking host school Beth Tfiloh earlier Thursday, they came within an eyelash of avenging an 80-32 loss to the Bulldogs just a year ago. Early on, Yavneh had their way and the game had all the signs of another pick your score runaway. An immediate Griffin Levine steal for a layup to Pierce Bell and then Levine/Ofek Reef respective assists and scores had Yavneh out to an early advantage. Levine found Bell for a triple at the wing and Reef at the basket. Reef then stole a pass and soared to the rim for his first non-technical foul slam dunk of the tournament. In fact, it was the first JamFEK that actually came while a tournament game was in session. Boyar would not, however, let the 12-5 beginning phase them in any way. A nice response on the inside and on the offensive glass made the score just 14-11 after the opening stanza. Boyar did not need to score points if they were bruising, battering, and containing the Bulldog attack. Yavneh mustered just 6 points in the second period, struggling mightily to shoot the basketball. 33% shooting and 1/11 three point field goals specifically was a self-containing prophecy. Yavneh looked the part of a team playing their 4th game in 26 hours and against a team that stylistically was not a work of art. As if this game needed any more choppiness, shot clock issues caused an 8 minute delay near the outset of the second half. A 20-16 lead for the Bulldogs at halftime completely disintegrated shortly thereafter with a 9-5 spurt that knotted the score at 25-25. Reef found Bell to answer under the hoop and then painstakingly dunked on his country-folk for a second time to establish a 29-25 lead. Holding a two-point advantage to begin the final period, the Bulldogs had not seen the last of ugly, uglier, or ugliest. Three pointers that landed closer to Dallas than anywhere in the Eastern time zone, free throws that made you wonder whether there was fine print with hidden charges, and an overall sluggishness that had this undefeated team on the ropes left the situation in dire straits. A critical 7-2 Boyar crawl rather than a run that lasted over 5 minutes gave the Israelis a 32-29 lead with 4:12 to play. Yavneh needed a spark or they were finished and Levine delivered once again. Suffering through a house of horrors that 3/18 could not even do justice to, the All-America point guard extraordinaire delivered a strike to Micah Romaner for a clutch finish at the rim. A Boyar turnover later, Levine was at the free throw line sinking two freebies for the lead just like that. Even single free throws were enormous in this game that home builders worldwide would be proud to watch develop. Levine and Reef connected on just a couple to stretch the advantage to 37-34 with 23.8 seconds remaining. Boyar, behind 3 of their 9 offensive rebounds, fired up 4 shots in the final seconds and finally connected on a layup with 3.2 ticks on the clock. They were, however, unable to get the timeout called down by a single point despite several Timex clock malfunctions. The Yavneh Bulldogs have survived behind 13 points apiece from Griffin Levine and Ofek Reef. Reef notched another monster double-double with the 13 points and 15 rebounds while Pierce Bell added 9 points, all of which were enormous.
Yavneh (11-0) is now guaranteed a spot in the Semifinals Friday afternoon with a third straight trip to the Finals at stake as well as the chance to defend the title Saturday night. The Bulldogs will have to shoot better…much better. But through 11 games the formula of pressure defense and high powered offense has worked much more than not. Can this team finish the job in Baltimore and carve out the first peg in their ever-growing legacy?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its 14th season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M TL-BW-SP-BR