Yavneh defeated Community Hebrew Academy Of Toronto’s Kimel Campus (CHATK) 46-30 and then blasted The Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC) 70-28 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 14-3.
Cured miraculously overnight, Yavneh secured at least a #3 seed Semifinal spot Thursday with a pair of convincing wins over teams from multiple countries. Two Wednesday lackluster performances put Bulldog supporters in a precarious mood but a dominating Thursday showcase not only erased many of the doubts but also put the squad from Dallas squarely back into the hunt for a tournament championship. David Rudomin delivered a breakfast three pointer to start the action against CHATK and was assisted by a very active Itai Guttman. Guttman was assisting all over the place to start the morning game and even debuted a blow-by dribble move to account for a 10-3 start. Yavneh held a double-digit 10 point lead after a period of play by shooting 58% from the field with only a single turnover. 4 different starters each scored 4 points to spread the wealth and the Guttman/Rudomin combo continued to stretch the lead into the second quarter. Bulldog energy combined with an inept CHATK offensive attack was the wrong formula for the team from Canada to compete in this contest. Guttman found Sam Kleinman on a nice cut to the basket and a mid-second period 13-4 run really opened the game up at 29-10. Senior Adam Steinbrecher finished a nifty reverse layup and even assisted his little brother David on another basket during the run. A slashing Steve Levine finish gave the Bulldogs a 29-10 halftime advantage. CHATK had very little working to the tune of 2/17 shooting while Yavneh took care of the ball and out-rebounded their opponent quite handily. 9/15 free throw shooting was the only offense for the Canadians and no second half help was on the way. Turnovers started to really take their toll as CHATK no longer was able to keep their composure. Multiple steals for the Bulldogs including an Adam Karnett body-slam steal pushed the game to a 37-18 margin. Jason Epstein took a big charge and Adam Schor was the beneficiary of missed shots bouncing right to him for easy layups to end the third period in a lopsided affair. The game turned sloppy in the final stanza and the lead was trimmed to as low as 13 points but the Bulldogs got a key Adam Steinbrecher to Steve Levine out of bounds bucket and a Jonathan Ochstein find of Noah Weiss for a mid-range jumper to put the game on ice at 43-26 with 2:44 to play. Junior Lee Gelsky had an eventful last 90 seconds collecting his first career point on two technical free throws that needed no assistance from any part of the rim, recording his first career field goal moments later, and almost got credit for a charge taken. Adam Schor led the team with a nice 9 point/9 rebound effort in his return to the court, David Rudomin chipped in 8 points, and Itai Guttman notched 6 assists to go along with 6 points.
February 10, 2008 probably was not on HANC’s mind as they played their 4th game in just over 30 hours Thursday but Yavneh more than avenged the events of that particular day in Thursday’s nightcap. This was not the #1 vs 2 national match-up so highly anticipated for months that saw HANC prevail 51-39 but was instead an opportunity to clinch a spot in this 2013 Semifinals. The Bulldogs drop-kicked the moment on this night and left absolutely no doubt that they would be playing for a spot Friday in Saturday night’s championship game. The biggest problem for HANC was their full court press in the opening period. Sam Kleinman dissected the press in three straight possessions to begin the game and Yavneh simply never looked back. The passing was magnificent with nearly every basket being an assist from multiple players. Even the posts were putting on a passing clinic with Itai Guttman finding Adam Schor for a quick 18-9 lead out of the gate. Just two turnovers in the first period and 58% shooting from the field seemed to be as good as it would get. Not even close!! The only way to answer a disastrous 23-5 second quarter from a night earlier is clearly with an identical one 24 hours later. The Bulldogs could not miss in the second period no matter what they did. Kleinman connected on a three pointer and then found Schor open in the lane to extend the lead to 24-12. A key sequence followed in which Yavneh was fouled and saw their opponent simultaneously receive a technical foul for the 2nd of three unbelievable times on the day. Only one of the four subsequent free throws were made and could easily have been a turning point for HANC to creep back into the game. Junior Ori Guttman, however, had different plans on his calendar. In the next 3:48 Guttman went hog wild to single handily put the game on ice in just the second period. A strong open court drive off a Jonathan Ochstein steal, a second-chance put-back, and a pair of rhythm triples later HANC was completely shell-shocked and any momentum they had captured gone into the Baltimore night. Guttman’s 4/4 instantaneous field goal performance highlighted a half in which Yavneh shot 67%, barely lost the ball, and buried the once proud NY powerhouse 41-14 after 16 minutes of play. The lead swelled to a cool 30 points midway through the third period on David Rudomin’s breath-taking wrap around pass to Itai Guttman. The final period featured a three point shootout for the Bulldogs with Zak Schultz connecting on a pair and Steve Levine also chipping in with a long distance connection. Inexplicably, a Too Many Men on the Plastic Tile penalty gave a Bulldog opponent the third and final technical foul of the day. Adam Schor led all scorers with a nice 15 point/10 rebound effort followed by the 11 points on nearly perfect shooting from Ori Guttman. Adam Karnett and Sam Kleinman combined for 9 of the 22 assists in addition to scoring 7 points apiece even with limited second half action. Also of note, Itai Guttman’s 6 rebounds on the day moved him into 2nd place all-time in rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Yavneh (14-3) will have a crack at the championship but it wont nearly be easy. They will play both a final preliminary game and then a Semifinal against host school Beth Tfiloh Friday. Both teams have lost to only Heschel in the tournament and will meet in what should be a very interesting morning game to determine jersey color for what should be an epic semifinal come afternoon. The Bulldogs will have to fight a team playing solid basketball and also a raucous crowd that is out for blood on a December Friday in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Kennel Report, now in its tenth season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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