Yavneh defeated Dallas International School 62-32 Thursday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 20-7.
Jordan Prescott scored 9 of his team-high 14 points during the decisive 90 seconds in the third period to allow Yavneh a comfortable coast to the finish. The Bulldog starters were extremely sharp during their nearly 12 minutes of action. Sophomore Adam Karnett used some excellent passes to go along with his familiar half court steals and Yavneh jumped to a 12-3 advantage. He was aggressive from the outset and that really set the tone on this night. All this was a continuation of last game and now a 4 game stretch where Karnett has been offensively rejuvenated. Prescott and Sophomore Itai Guttman connected on two nice plays to end the opening period with the Bulldogs maintaining control 18-10. Despite the offensive explosion, stretches of haphazardness doomed Yavneh and kept the game close. Adrian Dujardin scored every one of DIS’s 10 points to that point and kept his team afloat. The second team was not nearly as energetic as DIS was allowed to hang in trailing by just 10 points. Guttman displayed his jumbo passing skills with two straight assists including a delivery between a defender’s legs to Senior Kevin Sulski for the strong finish. A Karnett three point play with a ton of contact stretched the lead to 15 points and paved the way for a 29-17 halftime lead. The game was close due to the Bulldogs’ 8 turnovers but their immense rebounding advantage kept the lead at double digits for the duration. In fact, every Yavneh player recorded at least a rebound in the game.
The third period saw the Bulldogs come out sluggish and unresponsive for a brief moment as the lead was trimmed to 10 points. Prescott decided at that point to eliminate all drama with a personal 9-0 run in a flash. Connecting on back-to-back-to-back three point hits, he single handedly bumped the lead up to 40-21. This time the reserves came to play. Freshman Jason Epstein stole more than the show in the final 10 minutes. He also pick-pocketed DIS on five of seven possessions down the stretch. In all, Epstein stole 7 basketballs in the second half alone. Meanwhile, classmate Sam Kleinman was distributing magic at the other end to put the game away. He found Rookie of the Year candidate Ori Guttman at the basket and then Criminal Minds cast member Jason Epstein for a baseline JUMP SHOT. Suddenly the lead had reached 24 points. Kleinman continued to distribute as Sophomore Adam Steinbrecher got a pair of great looks for buckets down low. The top 3 scorers were all very efficient: Prescott 14 points (5/7), Karnett 10 points (3/6)—(4/5 FTs), and Steinbrecher 10 points (3/4). Karnett also combined with Kleinman for 9 of the 18 assists.
Yavneh (20-7) has now won 6 straight games and looks for the magic #7 Tuesday against HSAA North B. This will be the toughest test for the Bulldogs since their narrow escape past Commerce to start the streak. It will be interesting to see some of the team’s new found depth against an athletic squad of dead-eye shooters.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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