HSAA North defeated Yavneh 57-56 Thursday night. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 17-5.
Adam Karnett’s 24 points and a stellar second-half defensive effort nearly overcame a 14 point lead. In the end, any one of the plethora of offensive and defensive mistakes turned out to be the eventual down-fall for the Bulldogs as they came up just a single point short. Playing without their starting point guard and by far leading assist-man, Yavneh looked lost early on both ends of the court. A ridiculously high turnover count coupled with a lackluster defensive performance had HSAA feeling right at home even though this collection of northern Home Schoolers doesn’t actually have a home gym. The pace was slowed to a crawl as HSAA built an 8-2 lead. Itai Guttman kept the Bulldogs within distant contact with a couple of second chance conversions but the deficit slowly swelled to 19-5 through a single period of play. Guttman had all 5 points, which was in itself mediocre at best. 8 first quarter turnovers and 20% shooting were just not going to get the job done against a team the caliber of HSAA North. Meanwhile, the road team was shooting 64% from the field and getting easy looks at the basket. As lifeless as Yavneh looked in the first eight minutes, however, the seasons changed to summertime to start the second stanza. Junior Adam Steinbrecher sparked a 9-0 run by drilling a triple seconds after he was inserted into the game. Suddenly, the Bulldogs became active at both ends of the court. Apparently it was National Runner In The Lane Night as Adam Karnett floated two runners into the net followed by one from Jason Epstein from the left side of the middle paint area. Suddenly the lead had been mashed to 19-14 with a ton of energy and momentum for the home team. Unfortunately, the Bulldog run was answered with a rude 11-2 spurt the other way, fueled by mistakes and confusion. Yavneh battled to trail only 36-27 at halftime but clearly they were not as sharp on this night. HSAA’s shooting % lead had been cut to 18% and the Bulldogs did this by committing only a handful of turnovers while scoring 22 second quarter points. HSAA had 10 different players score but the challenge clearly was to get the pace as fast as possible in order to continue getting easy transition opportunities. Karnett was the catalyst offensively but the game would come down to whether Yavneh repeated a 5 point first quarter or a 22 point second quarter. The offenses forgot to return to the court after halftime. Neither team scored for nearly four minutes until HSAA extended the lead to 11 points with a finish at the basket. The Bulldogs chipped away at the lead and pulled within 7 points as Adam Schor assisted himself by tipping in his own missed layup. Allowing only 4 points in the first 7 minutes plus of the third period gave Yavneh a chance to get back into the game. The offense, however, mirrored the first instead of the second period so the game was still under HSAA control. The Guttman brothers hooked up on a nice exchange from half-court in transition as Ori finished the play at the basket. The deficit was just 40-36 and, all things considered, the Bulldogs were within striking distance heading to the final quarter. A 9-6 third period had Yavneh both disappointed that their offense had again stagnated and thankful that the defense had kept them in the game. That offense, though, pulled into the driveway to start the fourth chapter. Karnett found Schor on a nice roll to the basket followed by an Ori Guttman transition steal/layup to pull the Bulldogs to within a basket of the lead. At 42-41, HSAA responded with a deadly 6-0 run fueled by turnovers and defensive lapses in the blink of an eye. The Bulldogs were so close to climbing the mountain before slipping down a few rungs but 5:41 still remained to get back. Epstein and Karnett each sunk a pair of free throws to slash the margin back to a single possession at 48-45 with 4:27 to play. Both teams suddenly were executing offensively on nearly every trip. Every five point HSAA lead was answered with an electric Yavneh response. Karnett lobbed a pass over the defense for Schor to cash in and then Itai Guttman sent a reverse layup home. Karnett connected again to make the score 56-53 with 14.3 seconds to play but a free throw pushed the lead to two possessions. Despite a deep three ball from Karnett with 6.4 seconds remaining, the Bulldogs were unable to set up a play to get the ball back and time ran out. Through all the ebbs and flows, defensive runs and offensive ineptness, a single point was the difference. Any one play, missed free throw, turnover, missed assignment, almost deflection, or non flu-like symptom truly was the difference in a win or a loss. Karnett delivered a game-high 24 points to go along with 5 assists and 10/13 from the free throw line. Posts Schor and Guttman combined for 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Jason Epstein and Ori Guttman fueled the offense with their defense throughout the night. Sophomore Grant Prengler’s enormous contribution at the defensive end, specifically in the rebounding department, was a key in shutting down the HSAA offense and having a chance to win.
Yavneh (17-5) will get ready for a busy three games in three nights stretch starting Monday at Lucas Christian. Lucas has not beaten the Bulldogs since a game before Erez Krengel broke their hearts with a miracle three pointer at the buzzer 7 years ago.
The Kennel Report, now in its ninth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M