Yavneh defeated Dallas Thunder Home School 85-62 in the first of three games in the First Baptist Cotton Bowl Classic Wednesday. The Round of 16 win improves the Bulldogs season record to an inerrant 15-0 and the team has now won 29 of their 31 games in calendar 2017 as a basketball program with a pair still to play.
Anyone looking for help in planning a vacation, excursion, or just travel plans in general need look no further than the Yavneh Academy Boys basketball squad. Cruises, international travel, the Tropics, and even dental resorts, this team spans the globe and apparently does only one thing better than navigating airports: they can play basketball. Yavneh used The December DFW 8, as the media has dubbed them, to dismantle highly touted Dallas Thunder Wednesday. All the 24-day layoff seemed to do was give the Bulldogs time to improve their shooting and find a way to produce their highest point total all season. After the poorest of mental starts with a turnover and a late holiday one-way gift exchange resulting in three free throws for the Thunder, the Red-and-Black seemed to settle down. Sophomore Jonah Eber set up Ofek Reef for a strong baseline drive for the first 2 of the 85 points. The game might as well have been over on the very next possession as Reef pick-pocketed a Thunder player for a driving one-handed throw down to officially start the show-FEK. A special return on Jonah THREber beat the 2017 buzzer with an early wing triple to put Yavneh into the lead for good at 7-5. In fact, the Bulldog side of the scoreboard seemed to be divisible by threes on this brisk afternoon with Pierce Bell connecting on another just moments later. Griffin Levine Sr found Tyler Winton, who was just beginning his epic day off the bench, for an out-of-bounds pass over, under, and by absolutely no one for a 13-8 lead. Bell and Reef both added transition baskets to push the lead to 18-11 after one period of play. The Thunder had trouble finding any lightning as they could not hit the side of a barn early or ever. 3/18 first period shooting was not going to keep pace with a Yavneh team that was locked in offensively. To be fair, the Bulldogs really did not hit their stride until the second period when they fell just short of recording a 30-point stanza. Levine, after struggling a bit early, gained confidence on a transition layup and then drilled a three pointer of his own. Micah Romaner made the Thunder zone defense look silly with a pass from the middle to Winton for his first of four three point bombs. The first two came back-to-back from the wing and top of the key to deliver the first double-digit lead of the game at 32-22. Reef’s bully AND-ONE finish and then a laser pass to Romaner for a creative baby-hook finish increased the lead but the finish to the half buried a home school group that was suddenly re-thinking this whole not needing an actual school idea. Similar to a shooter on fire in the legendary NBA Jam video game, Winton could barely grasp the ball before it was shotput into the air with flames and then deposited into the net scorching. TW3’s third downtown connection was followed by two Eber plays that demoralized a team clearly surprised by the Sophomore Siege of December 27 2017. Eber took a Reef pass and finished at the rim on a play that seemed like time just stopped for 5 seconds with the lefty guard/post hanging in mid-air. Eber would add a punctuating AND-ONE for a 47-26 halftime edge.
The Bulldogs were running and gunning the Thunder off the court in spectacular fashion. In a game that was supposed to be a tight contest of two teams with incredible guard talent turned into a laugher for almost the entire second half. Levine attacked the rack for a great finish to give Yavneh 50 points early in the third period and the game got a bit ragged after that but was never remotely in doubt. 68-40 was the score after three periods of play. Zach Bernstein connected on a pair of no-doubter trifectas and shot 100% from the field on shots getting to the rim. He also played air tight defense including a physical rebound and a loud rejection. Seth Gerstenfeld also led the defensive charge late to close out the game with some big rebounds and a charge take attempt that should have gone his way. Ofek Reef led all scorers with 21 points and 10 rebounds for another double-double. His 9 assists and 5 blocks had him doing just about everything but cook breakfast for the First Baptist crowd. Tyler Winton broke out with a career best 16-point effort on 4/7 three point shooting. Griffin Levine also added 16 points while Pierce Bell contributed 14 of his own. Jonah Eber’s 8 point/8 assist game was also enormous to the outcome. Also of note, Micah Romaner was perfect from the field and collected 7 big rebounds.
Yavneh (15-0) will play the quarterfinal game of this tournament against reigning Southwestern Preparatory Conference champions Casady from Oklahoma City Thursday. The lunch time contest will be an interesting test for this undefeated team. Casady will have no issue matching talent with the Bulldogs in what could possibly be a game for the ages. Yavneh has never beaten a team from the state of Oklahoma (0-1 all-time) and it has been nearly 20 years since they defeated an SPC team of any kind much less the reigning champs. How good is this 2017-18 Bulldog team that gets ready to try to make it back to State and finish the job? Can 8 players with the dream of closing out a legendary 2017 close it out in the most legendary of ways? Less than a month removed from making it crystal clear that TAPPS is a step above the Yeshiva League, can Yavneh help to support the claim that so many so-called experts currently believe that TAPPS > SPC????
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its 14th season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M TL-BW-SP-BR