Arlington Grace Preparatory Academy defeated Yavneh 88-60 Saturday night in a TAPPS 3A Round of 16 AREA playoff game. The loss wraps the Bulldogs record at 23-11.
Former University of Texas coach Abe Lemons may have said it best: “There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and put the darn ball in the basket”. After 33 basketball games, Yavneh’s playoff hopes were dashed Saturday night simply because Grace Prep did a whole lot more putting the ball in the basket than did the Bulldogs. Scorching 68% shooting from the field including an 8/8 start that left Yavneh searching for answers put Grace Prep well on their way to a clean wire to wire victory, ending the Bulldogs season. It was 5-0 before anyone could blink and, other than a Steve Levine find of Daniel Chernikov at the rim, Grace Prep dominated the opening 2 minutes to the tune of 10-2. Chernikov patiently let a defender fly by to finish on a bank shot to make the score 10-4 but another 5-0 run for Grace Prep put the Bulldogs in an all-too familiar 11 point hole to start the game. Freshman Jordan Phillips, a 6’5 monstrosity that apparently thinks he is a guard, was absolutely sensational early in this game. Phillips drilled a trio of triples with one coming courtesy of the glass. Grace Prep connected on their first 8 shots from the field, including 4 three pointers in all during that stretch. Meanwhile, Yavneh was missing layups and easy looks inside the paint which could have kept the game within striking distance. Supersub Senior Ori Guttman stopped the bleeding with a pair of dead-eye free throws to keep his team within 20-6 after one period of play. 2/13 shooting for the Bulldogs just ended up making the hot Grace Prep shooting even more painful. The silver lining was that Yavneh was into the foul bonus still in the first period but they would have to rally on the defensive end at some point. Every time they would make strides in getting back into the game, Grace Prep would reel off another 5-0 mini spurt. Levine once again fed Chernikov to trim the margin to 12 points but then 5 straight for the Lions. Guttman drove strong to the rack for a three point play and finished it for 25-11 but then 6 more points to the opposition. Phillips and Senior Elbert Lawrence were on top of their games all night long, carving up the Yavneh defense. Turnovers started to play a role down the stretch of the first half as well and suddenly the deficit had grown to 31-11. Levine connected on a straight-away triple to draw within 16 points and the margin was 17 at halftime 38-21. 66% shooting for Grace Prep versus 11 missed paint shots for Yavneh was the true, harsh story with 27 of the 38 points coming from Phillips and Lawrence.
The second half was an uphill battle that Yavneh could just never seem to get quality traction on. The most aggressive half of basketball in the career of Junior David Steinbrecher paid dividends with a powerful drive for an and-one keeping the lead under 20 points. But Grace Prep never went through a significant offensive drought and started to get easy looks at the basket once the Bulldogs were forced to exert extra defensive pressure. Sophomore Noah Rubinstein had the defensive highlight of the night with a mid-air rejection on an attempted floating jump shot but there was not nearly enough defense being played to make a concerted run. The Bulldogs would make a few plays consecutively as Steinbrecher found Rubinstein at the basket for a rare Yavneh layup. Zach Epstein provided good energy, once again vacuuming up a pair of offensive rebounds seconds into making his way onto the court. 68-39 was the Grace Prep lead through three periods of play with very little going the way of Yavneh. Senior Noah Weiss had a strong tip-follow and a three point play at the basket to start the final stanza but one final Grace Prep 13-1 outburst put the exclamation point on this playoff rout. Not surprisingly, however, the Seniors and this team battled until the final buzzer and finished the game on a 15-5 run for the Bulldogs. Epstein found Senior Grant Prengler for a corner triple followed by another Senior Zak Schultz picking up a steal and assisting Steinbrecher for a three ball as well. Steinbrecher also had a steal for a streaking layup during the run in which he played inspired basketball right until the end. He led the team with 13 points while Chernikov scored 10 points. Ori Guttman tallied 9 points and was exquisite from the free throw line for a perfect 5/5. Levine, Weiss, and Rubinstein combined for another 20 points but it was not nearly enough to keep up with a team that quite possibly could have notched 100 points had they not had such a big lead at the end.
For the quintet of outgoing Seniors, this game was the end of the road for a collection of storied careers. Ori Guttman, the only four-year Varsity letter man in the group, finished his career Saturday with 549 points, 228 rebounds, 148 assists, and 155 steals. The triple-digits in no less than 4 categories truly exemplifies Ori’s versatility. Known for his instant energy on both sides of the court, his prowess in offensive transition, and attacking of the rim that turned countless games completely around, Guttman was a weapon impossible for opponents to game plan for. Notching a record of 108-34 in his career, Guttman was a contributor on 4 consecutive highly competitive teams. Co-Captain Grant Prengler scored 173 points in his 3-year stint as a Bulldog but no measurable statistic can account for the impact he had over 3 of the very best teams in school history. Prengler’s leadership of this 2014-15 team speaks for itself in addition to always being the personality of all three teams he was on. The success of Sam Kleinman, among others, can be highly attributed to Prengler’s persuasive advocacy. Some of the most clutch plays in recent years have belonged to Prengler, including free throws during the 2015 playoff run and changing the complexion of the famous Saturday night tussle with JDS of Rockville MD in Baltimore a year ago. The other Captain, Meir Epstein, tallied 50 points in a career that went far beyond the box score. Epstein spent his high school career serving his school in any and every way needed/imaginable. His unbelievable energy quickly earned Meir the role of bench captain as a Freshman and truly had a knack for impacting basketball games on and off the court. 3 years of Varsity contributions coupled with a pair of solid JV basketball seasons mixed in, Epstein was a poster child for everything that is right about the Yavneh basketball program and was ALWAYS a fan favorite. Despite being sidelined by an injury for much of his Senior season, Epstein led this team to greatness through encouragement, inspiration, and best of all his propensity to instill servant leadership at the highest level. In what possibly was the most gripping and inspiring moment in school history, Meir stole the show one last time on Senior Night with his brief appearance in which he clearly attempted to take one last charge. There is no better example of the depth within the Yavneh program than Noah Weiss and his magical Senior season. Weiss spent a year learning to play at the high school level, grabbed himself a JV MOP, and then proceeded to back up the best post duo in school history for his rookie year on Varsity. Naturally, Weiss stepped up to score 311 of his 358 career points, 247 of his 319 rebounds, and 43 of his 55 blocked shots in his final campaign. With effort-less ease, Weiss carried this team for much of the year, finished a team-high 60% of the time, and was an exquisite janitor when needed the most to clean up baskets. In an era of basketball players struggling to maintain an even emotional keel throughout challenging situations, Noah Weiss never wavered in his grasp of control. Zak Schultz spent 2+ years with the Varsity and an additional pair of years on JV but through it all always had his three point shot. Schultz was a marksman with 126 Varsity points (24 triples) on long-range connections and his patented hanging reverse layups. Schultz was a match-up problem for most opponents, specifically those with designs on employing a zone defense. His energy on defense turned the momentum on several occasions over the last pair of seasons, and was a critical component to the depth of the two teams. This group achieved what is now back-to-back Top 16 State finishes and finished second in the district behind only overall 3A tournament favorite Trinity Christian.
From the reality of conclusiveness comes the anticipation and expectancy attributed to a thriving basketball program. The 4-year record of 108-34 that the graduating Seniors leave with is proof that Yavneh is very much a TAPPS 3A state contender as well as a force on the national Jewish High School basketball scene. The dreams of State and Sarachek titles are very much alive and well with a pair of trios ready to weld their legacy into Yavneh lore. Having just become basketball Seniors, Steve Levine, Jonathan Ochstein, and David Steinbrecher will return a combined 7 years of Varsity experience. Levine has long been recognized as specialist in the art of steals and transition layups (92.7% coming from the West coast) and is on most Texas high school coaches radar as a premier guard heading into next season. Levine assumed a much bigger role this season and should be a match-up nightmare for all Bulldog opponents. Ochstein assumed David Rudomin’s role as a shut-down defender with much success as well as doing a great rebounding job. As he continues to become a much bigger offensive threat, next year’s squad will be even tougher to guard. Steinbrecher has shown that he is more than just a knock-down outside shooter that makes it impossible to play zone defense against his team. The question remains how complete will the final act of his high school career play out in terms of variety in his game. When the outgoing Sophomore class returns a pair of starters, the upside to what 2015-16 could end up being is never ending. Daniel Chernikov burst onto the scene in his rookie year at the school and was an instant difference maker. With 2 more years and more frightening to the rest of the world 2 more off-seasons, Chernikov will develop an un-stoppable paint game to go along with his perimeter mastery. Noah Rubinstein added new meaning to the word versatility with his ability to play 5 positions, tally 30+ in every fundamentally sound statistical category, and impacted just about every game. If Rubinstein can maintain his balance for 2 more seasons while he inevitably improves the key areas that drive his all-you-can-eat buffet of skills, this will be the ingredient that makes teams to come unstoppable. Zach Epstein carried on the family tradition with more offensive rebounds per minute per square inch than anyone else out there. As Epstein continues to develop offensively and tweak his tenacious defense to be an X-factor at the Varsity level, he will be the energy player that the returning team will need without question. Those 6 provide a strong nucleus for whoever joins them….and it will be stiff competition. Off a Junior Varsity loaded with talent, some with last names to match a couple of those outgoing Seniors, there are starving up-and-comers that could be just a strong summer removed from being a part of greatness next year. Couple that with anything external that arrives on the scene, 2015-16 will be loaded with talent and ready to build on the momentum this program has.
Will this group of 6 returning players come back even better and more hungry now that they have seen what it takes? Will the additions next season catapult this program to new heights? Can Yavneh get back to a TAPPS 3A Regional Final and finally get over the hump to go to State? Can the Bulldogs bring Texas a Sarachek championship at long last?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!
The Kennel Report, concluding its eleventh season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
TL-BW-SP-BR