HSAA North defeated Yavneh 65-49 Thursday night. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 14-7.
Yavneh got a cruel reminder Thursday of why making mistakes against a quality opponent is not a winning formula. 22 giveaways and porous perimeter defense eliminated any chance the Bulldogs had of competing on this night. Senior scoring sensation Jordan Prescott tripled right off the bat but HSAA responded with a 10-1 run to separate. Outside shooting was the answer throughout for HSAA, who shot 72% in the opening period overall. Yavneh had to score to keep pace and they just could not do it with all the turnovers, many of them unforced errors. The second period started with two more turnovers and the lead had suddenly ballooned to 25-11. A spectacular Prescott assist from his knees to Sophomore Itai Guttman for a bank finish stemmed the tide but another HSAA run popped the lead to 19 points. 5 first quarter turnovers led to 10 more in the second but that was not the only issue. HSAA was on fire from the outside, connecting on 6/7 first half three pointers. The shooters were dead on all night long but they received open look after open look. The guards were beating the Bulldogs defense off the dribble and finding wide open shooters, a deadly concoction for the home team. 9 different players scored for HSAA in the first 16 minutes and to make matters worse Yavneh missed five free throws as well.
The Bulldogs came firing out of the halftime locker room with a vengeance. Prescott drove right to the cup on consecutive offensive possessions, and when Senior Kevin Sulski found Sophomore Adam Karnett for a layup, the lead was merely 41-27 moments into the second half. The HSAA answer, however, came suddenly and consistently from three point land. 11/14 three point shooting kept HSAA with a comfortable margin throughout despite a much more solid Yavneh effort throughout the second half. Nathan Williams connected on 4 of those second half triples, each answering a Bulldog basket. The turnover numbers were better in the final 16 minutes but Yavneh could never do any serious damage to the point differential. Prescott once again led all scorers with 28 points, while Guttman had a third straight encouraging game with 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Also of note, Kevin Sulski notched 8 assists.
Yavneh (14-7) will have the weekend to regroup before a challenging Tuesday night tilt with Commerce High School. The Bulldogs handled Commerce a year ago on the road but this team was picked to win their conference and should pose a good test despite some key injuries. Turnover management and press break ability will likely again determine the outcome Tuesday.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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