Yavneh defeated Dallas Lutheran 55-42 Thursday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 19-4 (1-0).
Its been 14 years since Yavneh lost a district game and TAPPS will have to wait at least 5 more days for that occurrence. 12 different Bulldogs scored in a wire to wire dominating return for the Red and Black. From the opening tip Senior Captain Sam Kleinman seemed focused on not allowing Lutheran to build any positive momentum at home in both teams first district game. Kleinman found newly inserted starter David Steinbrecher for an immediate left wing triple. It was not long until Kleinman connected with his largest target Adam Schor for the first of three times in the opening period. The passing was on display to start the game from a variety of players, including a nice Schor feed back to Kleinman for one of four first quarter three point strikes. Tasked with locking down Lutheran’s best scorer, Senior David Rudomin did more than just play defense on this night. A pair of line drive three pointers left Lutheran searching for answers as missiles were being fired from all corners of their 2-3 zone defense. A 6-0 start became 18-7 in a flash with a nearly perfect offensive attack of David Steinbrecher, Kleinman, and Schor. As replacement Steinbrechers and Guttmans made their way onto the court, there was just no drop-off. Adam Steinbrecher found Ori Guttman for another three ball almost instantaneously to push the Bulldogs into a 21-9 lead after the first period of play. Schor’s 7 points, Kleinman’s 4 assists, and 62% field goal shooting (including 4 threes) left Lutheran unsure of what to do. The fancy passing continued as Sophomore Jonathan Ochstein threw a nifty assist to Adam Steinbrecher but it was a 4 point possession early in the second period that really blew the game wide open. Ori Guttman drove like a cheetah to the basket for a strong finish and brother Itai rebounded the ensuing free throw. With that second opportunity Junior Noah Weiss found his way to the free throw line for a 2/2 trip and suddenly a 27-12 advantage. Rudomin’s second three point hit moments later pushed the lead to a gargantuan 31-12 which was truly the point of no return. Lutheran probably could have done without Junior Grant Prengler’s buzzer-beating banker for a 36-15 halftime lead. 57% shooting for Yavneh with 6 three pointers were only half the story. Lutheran’s two-man offense of Conner Kintz and Brandon Jenkins were limited to a single field goal (2pts) each. In fact, the home team was probably fortunate to get 5 free points at the charity stripe as well as some gift scoring courtesy of some bad Bulldog defensive over-plays and of course 10 turnovers from the Bulldogs. Above all else, the passing against the Lutheran zone was the key to the 21 point lead. Regardless of size, every Yavneh player was assisting.
The third period saw the game come to a screeching halt with each team scoring a whole 6 points. The Bulldogs highlight was a post to post special from Schor to Itai Guttman. Guttman hosted his own block party with multiple send backs to keep the game’s margin wide. To be fair, Yavneh’s third period offense was even worse than the 6 points when you consider that 4 of those points came in the final 15 seconds. During that sequence, however, the Guttmans assured that the 21 point lead would stay at just that heading to the final stanza. Itai Guttman found Ori Guttman for a layup that looked like the period’s final points but a quick steal gave Yavneh one last chance. Ori Guttman was fouled on a three point heave as time expired which resulted in points 41 and 42. The final period saw Lutheran’s Kintz and Jenkins finally wake up. Having been held in check for three periods, Kintz scored inside, outside, and even deeper outside. 13 points in the period later he had found his groove just a bit too late. Jenkins added 6 points in that final quarter for a 21 point Lutheran outburst but the hole was way too big to dig out of. The final straw was a possession with 4:04 remaining in which Jonathan Ochstein recovered his own missed shot and found David Steinbrecher for a punishing layup to pump the lead back to 22 points when it looked like a final run could possibly be made. Ori Guttman led the Bulldogs with 9 points on perfect field goal shooting. Sam Kleinman added 8 points and Adam Schor 7, both with 4 assists as well and also on perfect shooting from the field. Itai Guttman grabbed almost all of his 9 rebounds in the second half to go along with the 5 blocked shots. Also of note, Senior Captain Adam Karnett missed his first game with a broken finger suffered at Celina on Tuesday.
Yavneh (19-4) will step outside their district for a game with Poetry Community Christian this coming Monday. Poetry has given the Bulldogs fits with their scrappy style of play the last two seasons but this will be their first trip to Dallas and away from their barn/court in several meetings. Their inspirational hometown referee will reportedly also not be making the trip. The game will start a 4 game home-stand for Yavneh including two district contests next week against Mc Kinney Christian and First Baptist.
The Kennel Report, now in its tenth season, has been written by…
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