Yavneh defeated Arlington’s Burton Adventist 80-40 Tuesday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 5-1.
In a complete 180 degree turn-around from their previous game Thursday evening, Yavneh completely dominated on the road Tuesday. On Thursday, the Bulldogs could not find a consistent stretch from any of their 14 active players; Tonight, however, they could not find a one of those players who did not at least score and make a positive impact on the game. From the opening tip it was just a different type of game as Senior Captain Sam Kleinman connected on a three pointer not 10 seconds into the contest. Burton never could match the intensity that Yavneh brought to the table, yielding the first 7 points of the game. After final lighting up the home side of the scoreboard with a right wing triple, Burton then gave up another 23 straight points to cap the first period. The early Bulldog offense was fueled primarily by steals that led to uncontested layups. Kleinman had a pair of those while Adam Karnett added one of his own as well. Itai Guttman was without a doubt the most dominating of all the Yavneh players in that decisive opening stanza. Burton must have felt like they were knee-deep in the live filming of a Shrek movie as Guttman blocked a trio of shots, swallowed 12 rebounds whole, and was a presence on nearly every possession regardless of what end of the court. He made a nice high-low pass to classmate Adam Schor for one basket, and both assisted and received connections with brother Ori Guttman for 4 more points. The 30-3 first period mauling featured the Bulldogs out-shooting Burton 72% to 8%. While 11 turnovers helped pad the lead, inept Yavneh free throw shooting kept the game’s margin from becoming even worse. Six more points to begin the second quarter extended the run to 29-0 as Senior Adam Steinbrecher found his little brother David for a wing triple and Jason Epstein completed a sneaky squinting three point play at the rim’s left side off an inbounds pass from Jonathan Ochstein. As different lineups and combinations were starting to be shuffled in the results were pretty much the same. Steve Levine fed Zak Schultz twice, once in the lane and once streaking towards the basket after a steal for a 42-12 lead en route to a 44-18 first half. With only 7 turnovers, Yavneh out-shot Burton by over 40% and played a nearly flawless half of basketball except for the 6/15 free throw shooting.
Shrek returned to start the third period and started to display passing skills like never before. Itai Guttman assisted Schor, Karnett, Adam Steinbrecher, and Kleinman in piling up a career-high 7 assists. With the game already out of hand, Adam Steinbrecher drained back to back smooth three point missiles and then found a slippery Ochstein in the lane for a 68-26 edge. In a bit of history to end the third period, Junior Noah Weiss grabbed an offensive rebound at the rim with nearly 5 seconds remaining and still managed to make his follow a buzzer beater. That slo-mo Weiss exclamation point gave the Bulldogs exactly 70 points through three quarters of play and ended the drama for the evening. The final period belonged to David Steinbrecher. He made a runner and a pair of finishes at the basket to melt away the remaining time. Putting to rest a minor shooting slump, Steinbrecher got a nice pass from Levine for the 80th point late in the final period. Sam Kleinman led the Bulldogs with 13 points on exemplary 6/7 shooting from the field. Itai Guttman recorded his fourth straight double-double with 10 points, 14 rebounds, and the 7 assists. David Steinbrecher chipped in 9 points thanks to the strong fourth period. Ori Guttman and Adam Steinbrecher missed only one shot apiece in surging their way to 8 points each. Also of note, Steve Levine had a strong 4 assist/4 steal outing.
Yavneh (5-1) will have one final tuneup against HSAA South Wednesday before they face a murderous two-week schedule between now and Thanksgiving. A pair of 5A Dallas ISD Public schools will serve as bookends around match-ups with two of the Top 20 large private schools in Texas. Needless to say, the Bulldogs have some serious work ahead of them in the next 14 days.
The Kennel Report, now in its tenth season, has been written by…
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