Yavneh defeated Keene’s Chisholm Trail Academy 62-61 Thursday evening. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 23-6.
Yavneh picked one heck of a time to play their best half of the year. The Bulldogs “Payback Tour” continued as it was the Senior class that willed the team to victory. David Naxon led all scorers with 30 points and 12 rebounds, Brad Alhadef had the offensive game of his life with 17 points, Baruch Shawel came off the bench to scorch the zone yet again and played a smart, tough-minded game, Erez Krengel shook off a tough shooting night to star at the end, and injured Michael San Soucie led the cheers from the bench. Everyone contributed in that second half and may have triggered a hot streak heard all the way in New York City. The first quarter was once again a battle of whose pace the game would be played at. The quarter was played to a 13-13 tie as CTA won the pace. The game was only tied thanks to a buzzer beating shot from Sophomore Miles Pulitzer. CTA took over in the second period as the game slowed to a crawl with the same old Yavneh story. Offensive rebound after offensive rebound, and turnovers to boot entrenched the Bulldogs in a hole. The biggest CTA lead of the game would be 31-23 at the half. 8 Yavneh turnovers for points and nearly half of the 25 CTA offensive rebounds lulled the game just as in the first meeting. Just like the first meeting, though, the Bulldogs came out with guns blazing in the third quarter. Naxon started to deliver with 4 of his 11 third quarter points, and Shawel came through on a huge three pointer to instantly cut the lead to 31-30. CTA would answer most Yavneh runs with clutch three pointers and offensive rebound putbacks. Naxon and Alhadef made a conscious decision to get to the rim in the third, and did they ever. CTA started to lose their composure, and the Bulldogs parlayed that into a 45-37 lead going to the final stanza. With Shawel having hit his second three pointer to end the third, but six straight CTA points made it a two point game just like that. Just when it seemed as if the Bulldogs would lose the lead, Alhadef streaked right back to the basket for another two points. The lead would shrink to a single point at 49-48 and 5:20 to play. The offensive rebounding for CTA got outright ridiculous and put the game in some serious jeopardy. Alhadef again stemmed the tide, this time scoring and finding Naxon for a slip through slam dunk. Yavneh led 59-54 with 1:31 remaining but a sweet Joe Bruce reverse layup and two straight Bulldog missed one-and-one front end free throw opportunities left the door open yet again. Star CTA guard Jordan The knifed to the basket, once again cutting the lead to 59-58 with 11.1 seconds left. Erez “Ice” Krengel did very little on offense up to this point but all of a sudden knew it was time to steal the show. His two free throws touched nothing but net, and his ensuing steal allowed him to drain another free throw. The’s last second three pointer made the score look close but with no time left Yavneh had pulled off a tough win. With as many contributors helping Naxon on this night, the offense feasted for 60+ points. If the team had any semblance of defensive rebounding and could cut down on the turnovers, this might still be a special run in New York.
Yavneh (23-6) will make one final revenge attempt against HSAA in a week’s time, who demolished the Bulldogs earlier this season.
The Kennel Report is written by Zack Pollack