Yavneh defeated Emery Weiner of Houston 61-52 Sunday morning in the third place game of the David A. Yaffee z”l Memorial Tournament to improve the Bulldogs record to 14-12.
Yavneh took third place of the tournament Sunday morning by coming out strong and continuing to pour it on from wire to wire. Emery Weiner finally cracked the Bulldog defense but had no answer for Super Soph David Naxon, who netted a career high 37 points while grabbing 9 rebounds. It was the best offensive performance by a Bulldog player since Todd Nathan against Cedar Valley Christian in 2004-2005. Yavneh started strong with an 18-9 lead after one quarter. Naxon was able to get the ball inside and get to the free throw line with regularity when he was not finishing at the rim. The lead was pumped up to 13 late in the second quarter with the help of Aviv Schor’s 5 straight points, including a sweet 3 point play. The lead was 30-21 at half but the game very much still in doubt. Yavneh’s 7 first half turnovers gave an inspired Jaguar squad reason to hope. Competitive Jewish High School basketball is like the NBA… everybody makes a run. Yavneh came out with a sense of desperation to put the game away in the third quarter. They engineered a 13-4 run to open up an 18 point lead. The full court press was able to consistently turn Emery over, which created easy transition looks for Naxon. The Bulldogs did all but bury their opponent. However, Emery’s Noah Meicler and Greg Cohen got hot in the fourth quarter, combining for most of their 33 points in scoring on nearly every possession down the stretch. Yavneh would miss a shot at one end, and Meicler would run out free to create easy scoring opportunities time after time. All of a sudden, the lead was just 6 at 50-44 with 6:03 to play in the game. It was at that point that Naxon took over one last time. A personal 5-0 run for the slasher with help from some of Senior Amitai Scott’s 7 assists put the game on ice. Late turnovers kept the final score just 61-52 but Yavneh had to feel that they thoroughly beat Emery Weiner to earn third place.
They will take their 14-12 record on the road to North Hills in Irving on Tuesday night. Josh Abrams added 12 points on 4-7 three point shooting in the win. He and Naxon were named to the all-tournament team for their weekly performances. Also of final note, the Bulldogs gifted a season low 13 turnovers.