Yavneh defeated Dallas Lutheran 39-33 Thursday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 16-7 (4-4).
There was no rushing the court, jumping on scorers tables, gatorade baths for the clock operators, or bottles of sparkling grape juice being uncorked in the locker room…But the Bulldogs did manage to navigate their way to a much needed district victory that broke a 3-game losing streak and hopefully reset the dial for a back half of district play run. After a strange start with both teams intentionally conceding the opening tip, Yavneh was not messing around with another slow start. Rather than reprising their role as archaeologists digging huge first half holes, Steve Levine and Friends were determined to set the tone early. Levine drilled a three ball to start the scoring and added a whirling spin cycle move off glass to secure an early 9-3 advantage. Griffin Levine chipped in a floater as well but defense was the calling card in the opening half on this night. Lutheran connected on only a pair of shots from the field in the opening stanza and shot just 20% with both makes coming off second chance points. Jonathan Ochstein woke up to begin the second period and Lutheran could not handle his combination of speed, agility, and quickness. Ochstein slashed away from traffic to the basket and then drilled a pull-up jumper for a 14-9 lead. Steve Levine showed off his signature move in swiping a basketball for an uncontested layup with so much time that he was able to finish with the left hand on the right side. An 8-2 run spearheaded by the trio of captains extended the Bulldogs to a 20-9 halftime lead. Ochstein found Levine off the curl while David Steinbrecher secured 6 huge defensive rebounds at the other end. Steve Levine capped the run with one more stamp on the copyrighted steal for a touchdown, this time gracefully finishing with the RIGHT hand at the rim. Lutheran had all kinds of problem scoring, shooting a whopping 11% from the field and other than a handful of free throws and 4 offensive rebounds did nothing.
The Senior captains continued to carry the load with Steve Levine hooking Ochstein up with a nice inbounds pass for a 22-9 lead moments into the third period. Ochstein then found Griffin Levine in transition and the rebounding catalyst Steinbrecher drilled a corner triple to build the game-high 27-9 margin. That 7-0 spurt out of the locker room marked the first time in forever that the Bulldogs were clicking on both ends of the court. If this was a sign of things to come in February, it would be a site for 10,763 sore eyes. Lutheran somehow responded with an 8-0 extended run but they would need nothing short than a miracle to make up an 18 point deficit with their offensive woes. An 11-2 run to end the third period for Lutheran meant they scored more points in less than a 4 minute stretch than they did in the entire first half. The Bulldog offense went stagnant but when the lead got trimmed to 9 points, Griffin Levine connected on a key run-stopping bucket and then Steve Levine’s two-step finish into the lane pushed the advantage back to 13 points once again. The majority of the final period was a free throw shooting dexhibition for Lutheran which did not go so well for the home team. A good amount of their 12/26 from the FREE throw line came during the waning moments of a game that lacked all aesthetic value down the stretch. Bulldog turnovers and careless fouling competed with Lutheran bricks from the outside and any lack of capitalizing on the parade to the charity stripe that they were being afforded. It all added up to a low-drama crawl to the finish line but a much-needed district win for the Bulldogs. Steve Levine led all scorers with 18 points and missed only 4 shots to go along with 6 steals and 5 defensive rebounds. Griffin Levine added 8 points and 5 rebounds while Jonathan Ochstein’s 6 points came during the key run that essentially decided the game. David Steinbrecher recorded 5 points and grabbed 8 monster rebounds to key the defensive effort.
Yavneh (16-7) is on the winning track and now will have their work cut out for them over the upcoming two weeks. A pair of 3-game weeks will challenge this team mentally and physically beginning with a decent sized revenge game at home versus Mc Kinney Christian on Monday night. Just as quickly as the Bulldogs dropped three games, they need to now reel off a series of wins to jump right into the thick of the District 3 playoff conversation.
The Kennel Report, now in its twelfth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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