Yavneh defeated Hebrew Academy of Montreal Canada 66-65 Sunday afternoon in a Tier Ill semifinal game of the 15th annual Red Sarachek Tournament to improve the Bulldogs record to 17-16.
In an epic game of magnanimous proportions, Yavneh was able to survive another horrific defensive rebounding effort, missing clutch free throws, being careless with the basketball at critical moments late in the game, and a superhuman effort by Montreal big man Moshe Gottesman.. Gottesman finished with an amazing 41 points. The Yavneh run and gun looked all but dead at times in the first three quarters. The game started with a 12-6 Montreal run and they were on top of their game. Shooting an unbelievable 11-15 in the first quarter (73%), the Hebrew Academy built a 25-18 lead at the end of the frame Senior Amitai Scott led the Bulldogs with 6 points on 2-5 three point shooting in the quarter. The situation worsened for Yavneh in the early second quarter. Montreal built an 11 point lead surging ahead with Gottesman and teammate Moshe Cohen’s inside domination. Yavneh used a 7-0 run to get back in the game late in the half, capped by a huge charge drawn by Junior Sam Pulitzer. It not only was one of two for Pulitzer in the game but seized momentum for the Bulldogs before halftime and put the starting Montreal point guard (David Benyayaer) in foul trouble with 3. Yavneh was in pretty good shape down by only 42-36 at the half despite allowing 19-31 first half shooting while themselves connecting on only 12-32. With Gottesman on the bench nursing a leg injury and Benyayaer out with the foul trouble, Yavneh staged a run to start the third quarter. Another 1-0 Bulldog run gave Yavneh the lead at 43-42 but Gottesman would return. Starting to dominate inside again, he surged Hebrew Academy back into the lead at 53-49 to end the third quarter. Among the encouraging signs of the second half Yavneh offense, Senior Josh Abrams started to get his game back, having seemed lost for most of the first three games. The lead for Montreal ballooned to 9 at 58 49 with 6:35 to go in the game. Over the next 1:35 Yavneh clawed their way back in the game with their regular starting unit of Naxon, Abrams, Scott, Krengel, and Pulitzer. Abrams hit a three pointer and dished out several assists to Naxon as the Super Soph started to take over. Two key blocks on the defensive end by sophomore Michael San Soucie and junior Sam Pulitzer as well as aggressive defense from sophomore Bradley Alhadef held down the Montreal attack during this time. The lead was as thin as 60-59 with 3:40 to play when Naxon missed 2 critical free throws that could have given Yavneh the lead. He finally did, however, give them the lead on the very next possession at 61-60. In a sequence that sums up most of Yavneh’s problems during the Sarachek Tournament, Moshe Cohen of Montreal made a free throw before missing his second, grabbing his own rebound, and then laying the ball in the basket to give his team a 63-61 lead with 1:19 to play. David Naxon would be up to the challenge. A three point play under the basket gave Yavneh the lead back 64-63 with less than a minute remaining. The Bulldogs again stopped the opposition, this time on a nifty steal by junior Aviv Schor, and needed only free throws to go down. Sam Pulitzer was the victim this time, missing the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity. In a very decisive possession, Yavneh was able to get Montreal to miss and Naxon grabbed what should have been a game clinching rebound. However, Gottesman snatched the ball away from him and put the ball in the basket to give Hebrew Academy a 65-64 lead with just 14 seconds remaining. Yavneh could get nothing offensively and was forced to burn a timeout with 5 seconds left. The play went to Naxon in the low post but he lost the ball on the way to get off a closely guarded shot. As sophomore Erez Krengel corralled the ball with time expiring, the referee called a foul in the scrum. Krengel would have a 1-and-1 opportunity with 1 second left. A missed free throw would surely end the game. After much delay and in as pressure packed a situation as any Yavneh player has ever faced, Krengel drilled both shots perfectly to reclaim the lead for Yavneh at 66-65. A long pass that Amitai Scott could not get to caused much concern during the final play as Gottesman had one final deep look at the horn that fell off to the right. When all was said and done. Naxon had scored 23 points on 10-25 shooting while Gottesman finished with his 41 on a scorching 17-25 from the floor. Senior guards Josh Abrams and Amitai Scott also finished in double figures for the Bulldogs while all of Erez Krengel’s 8 points came on perfect 8-8 free throw shooting. Yavneh will play for the Tier Ill championship Monday morning at 8am eastern, 7am Dallas time. The opponent will be #11 seed Ida Crown of Chicago, Illinois. Always a very tough team, Ida Crown will truly be a test of where Yavneh sits as the Sarachek Tournament comes to a close. Ida Crown defeated Yavneh in the 2003 tournament’s 3r0 place game by double digits.
Yavneh (17-16) has already secured its best ever overall record at the YU Tournament with 3 wins and has also assured itself a winning overall record at the tournament.