Yavneh defeated Community Hebrew Academy Of Toronto’s Wallenberg (CHAT) 49-24 and then lost to The Abraham Joshua Heschel School of New York 58-41 in the first two of five preliminary games at the The Joseph and Florence Weiner Memorial Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland Wednesday. The Bulldogs season record now stands at 7-4.
Frigid Baltimore, Maryland temperatures did not even begin to compare with even icier three point, free throw, and even point blank shooting in Yavneh’s first day of play at the Weiner Tournament 2014 Edition. 0/16 three point shooting and 15 missed free throws in a pair of basketball games more than explained an opening day of mediocrity in the Charm City. Drawing the exact same match ups on opening day as a year ago, the Bulldogs struggled even more mightily from the outset than their previous match-up against CHAT. The Canadian squad bullied Yavneh over the first 4 minutes of play to the tune of 8-0. Senior Noah Weiss sank a single free throw to finally get his team on the board with 2:43 remaining in the opening period. Classmate Ori Guttman swooped onto the court with a steal for a touchdown and then an almost simultaneous transition finish that went up, over, and around the backboard. The technically illegal shot officially sparked the comeback run which reached 8-0 on a Steve Levine to Noah Rubinstein inbounds play. Levine converted a steal for a finish and the first Bulldog lead at 10-8 moments later. After the somewhat ridiculous start, Yavneh turned the game into a series of thefts that instantly ignited an offense that just could not make an outside shot. CHAT would snag one more lead at 12-10 before the Bulldogs ended the half with a 10-2 spurt. CHAT actually ended up with the higher shooting percentage at halftime but turned the ball over 17 times, 11 of which resulted from Yavneh steals. 13 of the Bulldogs 20 points came off those turnovers. The second half saw Yavneh capitalize on more and more and more steals. Other than a great Levine to Jonathan Ochstein inbounds play, a third quarter ending Rubinstein to Daniel Chernikov buzzer beating layup, and a finishing Noah Weiss post move, the entire second half was played in Bulldog transition. 31 CHAT turnovers in all off of an even 20 steals offered a punishing 29-10 second half. An 8-0 lead for CHAT became a 49-16 drubbing the rest of the way in convincing fashion. Steve Levine led the way with 13 points via 6 of the steals to go along with 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Both Jonathan Ochstein and Noah Weiss anchored the way with identical 9 point, 6 rebound games. Once again, however, a quick turnaround against the defending tournament champions would take a much different effort to achieve a 2-0 day.
The electricity of last year’s tournament final was nowhere to be found in this Heschel-Yavneh rematch in the 2014 preliminary rounds. With almost a totally different cast of characters on both sides, the game was played in a much more choppy fashion with more rust than anything for two teams playing their second game of an emotional day. Junior Jonathan Ochstein, coming off a second strong game, started this contest with a power finish for a 2-2 start. Heschel, however, took command with a 6-0 stretch based primarily on second chance points. This familiar Heschel weapon has hurt the Bulldogs for now three Baltimore contests in a row. Ochstein kept the game close with a tip-follow of his own and Ori Guttman’s baseline driving three point play trimmed the deficit to 10-7. The Bulldogs energy had Heschel on the ropes but a pivotal possession that involved free throws, yet another missed box out for an extra possession, and then a 4 point trip stretched the lead back out to 7 points. Trailing by 9 points after the first period of action, the Bulldogs got Senior Noah Weiss to wake up with a pair of free throws and then a put-back to dice the lead back down to 16-11 with 6:02 to play in the half. Every time Yavneh got the margin to a workable number, though, quick shots, missed layups, and unexplained errors would halt progress. Ochstein drilled an elbow jumper and Weiss saved the day with a blocked shot as time expired to keep the Bulldogs within 6 points at the break. Amazingly, the identical halftime score to the first game of the day only flipped at 20-14, Yavneh was kicking themselves for trailing in missing 6 free throws, committing 11 turnovers, and yielding 8 offensive rebounds all in the opening half. The second half began with a spirited run from the Bulldogs, who played for almost a minute like a team who absolutely needed to avenge last year’s championship game. Ochstein found Noah Rubinstein for a slippery drive to the basket and then Steve Levine motored in transition to make the game 20-18 just 36 seconds into the third period. Two ensuing defensive breakdowns gave Heschel a pair of triples for a 26-18 edge that put a giant dent in the momentum train. Levine created a layup for Weiss and Chernikov drilled a pair of free throws but that 26-22 score would be the closest the Bulldogs would get. A 13-3 Heschel run was fueled by more turnovers, missed layups, missed free throws, a continuation of the brickeration of the Yavneh three pointer for December 3rd 2014, and the exclamatory offensive rebounding nightmare. Ori Guttman continued to attack all second half long but his pass to Weiss cut the lead to 41-31 with 4:23 remaining in the game for the final shot at trimming the lead to single digits. Heschel salted the game away from there and won a third straight meeting to start the all-time series. Ori Guttman led the way with 12 points while the combo of Jonathan Ochstein and Noah Weiss once again was a strong one with 21 combined points/15 combined rebounds. Steve Levine notched 6 creative assists in the loss as well.
This is no time for the Bulldogs to dwell on the events of Wednesday. Yavneh (7-4) has a pair of their remaining 3 preliminary-round games up Thursday to attempt to earn a spot in the tournament Semifinals. A potential triple revenge game with Heschel in the Finals could be awaiting Saturday night but a pair of old rivals await well before that can even be a thought. Hyman Brand of Kansas will be first up on Thursday followed by Ramaz. Hyman Brand and Yavneh have hooked up for several memorable contests including the double-overtime thriller that saw Itzy Ribald score a school-record 59 points. The nightcap will be a rematch with Ramaz, who has met the Bulldogs in a couple down-to-the-wire Sarachek rounds including the biggest tournament comeback in school history within a wrestling cage in New Jersey.
The Kennel Report, now in its eleventh season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
TL-BW-SP-BR