Yavneh defeated Rockwall’s very own Heritage Christian Academy 120-69 Thursday night on SENIOR NIGHT. The win closes out the Bulldogs regular season at 27-3 (12-0).
On one of the most special nights in school history, Yavneh closed out its third straight (42 consecutive overall) absolutely perfect TAPPS 3A regular season. While it had been days since this group clinched a 4th consecutive district title, this game featured the third time this season alone that the Bulldogs broke the school scoring record, a feat that is becoming almost second-nature. But this evening wasn’t about another video game statistically scoring 120 points, once again playing a game against more friends than rivals in Heritage Christian. Beginning with heartfelt tributes from Senior captain Jonah Eber and Head of School Rabbi Yaakov Green in memory of this program’s most passionate and cherished supporter Annette Wolk z”l, continuing with the honoring of four incredible Senior captains, and culminating in an inspired performance by the entire team, the community shined through at the end of a most difficult week. A school record in single-game assists for Tyler Winton, the first Triple-Double of the season for Jonah Eber, and a career-high 38 points in amassing another Double-Double highlighted the stat-packed regular season finale. There would be no easing into the game against a team now so skilled in running The Grinnell System that is now picking up steam nationally as The MC-SYSTEM, in reference to its new mad scientist Dr Donald McEvoy and his revolutionary tactics that are changing TAPPS basketball 20 points at a time. But the Bulldogs, who ran a hybrid of the original permutation of this system in 2005, were ready for dinner right from the opening tap. Almost to the point of overdone excessiveness, if that’s even possible, Yavneh put on a passing clinic. 46 assists, many created by making the extra pass after two extra passes, sliced up the Eagles pressure defense all night long. Early on, this was a battle of high-flying offense. Jonah Eber danced into the lane for an AND-ONE finish early, Tyler C Winton grooved his way to 6 first period assists, and the Seniors were sensational offensively. Reece Parker scored at the basket off a nice feed from Eber, Winton fed two fellow Seniors and Jason Prager for a slick corner trifecta, and Mason Schwaber had a picnic at the basket in every possible way. This would have all been more fun if not for the heroics of HCA’s Nuru Witherspoon, who was awesome all night long. His early stretch of flawless shooting surged the Eagles into a 10-9 lead until Prager swiped the advantage back for Yavneh. No defense for either side was played in the opening stanza as Heritage attacked the baseline to the tune of a gaudy 24 points against a Yavneh team that had only allowed 60+ overall one time in district play (to this same team) The Bulldogs never let up, surging their way to 31 points of their own behind an avalanche of assisted baskets as the four Seniors plus Prager shared, cared, and electrified the capacity crowd to a 31-24 score in just 8 minutes of game action. Despite the crazy offensive numbers, it was the Bulldogs inability to control the defensive glass in that first stretch that gave the Eagles 8 more shot attempts (27-19), although a 73-37% field goal shooting edge was helpful to the Yavneh cause. Eber and Schwaber continued to feast in the second period as all the offense began to provide double-digit separation on the scoreboard. Winton was still dishing and swishing, connecting on one wing triple courtesy of a rebound and steal from Tom Oster that resulted in the helper from Eber. As the second wave filtered in, Yavneh just seemed to get stronger with their strangle-hold on this contest. Elisha Klein rifled a pass to Oster, who then shot himself out of a cannon and hotfooted his way to the basket for a greased lightning finger roll finish. Noah Ohayon also put on a show with another of his acrobatic tip follows at the rim where he reels in basketballs that are ticketed for Nebraska. As more and more defense was beginning to surface for the home team, Yavneh began to pull away in earnest on the scoreboard. Avery Levy was everywhere in the second period as his transition got Klein going for a finish on the run. Junior Nik Krasovitsky recorded a rebound and steal but his seeing-eye pass was a perfect setup that led to a basket and maybe the most dignified of all 46 assists on the night. No offensive rebounds allowed in the second period helped build a better defensive result while the scoring did not seem to miss a beat. 60-41 was the halftime lead behind near 70% shooting, a perfect 11/11 shooting from Schwaber (22 points), and 7 assists apiece from Eber and Winton.
Winton was characteristically unrelenting in his ability to set up classmates in this game as he fed Eber and Schwaber for early second half field goals. The Eagles would make a run behind the fantastic Witherspoon and legendary Senior guard Carson Biggerstaff. A significant push caused some tension as the 20+ point lead in this game was not completely safe given the pace and scoring in this game. But Yavneh never went more than a trip or two without more breathtaking offense and Hillel Baynash provided a defensive spark with a nice charge take to set the tone in the third quarter. Ben Rael, who stealthily put up an efficient night by drilling a triple, grabbing 4 rebounds, and missing only one field goal, bounced off a Heritage player to earn an AND-NONE that Ohayon would clean up for the 4-point play. Levy would join the passing exhibition with a pair of consecutive assists to Rael and then for a Klein corner pocket spectacular worth all 3 points. Klein would string together two breakaway successful finishes, the last of which Rael lobbed a pass ahead for. Klein would score a 4th field goal on the lone assist of the night from an inspired classmate. On a brisk night beyond the doors of the SRC, one Junior put the crowd and a sea of Heritage defenders into the defrOSTER with a pinpoint behind-the-back helper. Known more to his fans as TMO than TO these days, Oster added a baby hook to his triple highlight reel that will be sure to catch the eye of several D-1 institutions and more importantly ended the third period Yavneh 88—Heritage 58. A flurry to end the third frame gave way to one last run in the regular season careers of Parker, Eber, Winton, and Schwaber. Add Prager to that mix and you had a circus of steals, assists, and easy run-and-shoot basketball down the stretch. Winton scooped and scored, and of course assisted his partner in crime Eber for points 99/100 on the night. Schwaber, meanwhile, was having a Thanksgiving feast at the basket with no resistance. Winton broken-recorded steals and assists, one to Prager for a darting finish and assist #12 for the artist known typically as McBuckets. While Eber’s 10th assist (already top 2 career in that category) was celebrated, it is crazy to think that he would not even be within 4 helpers of the team leader for this game. Winton hooked up with Schwaber thrice in the final period, the last of which accounted for assist #15, passing Ofek Reef (14) and Noah Rubinstein/Griffin Levine (13) as the single-game leader for all-time. Winton used this feat to record his second Double-Double in District play with 11 points and the 15 assists. Mason Schwaber led the world with a career-high 38 point/10 rebound Double-Double on 19/21 shooting and 7 blocks to boot. Jonah Eber, not one to take a back seat to all these legendary performances, only followed with his third career Triple-Double of 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Ben Rael and Elisha Klein added 9 points apiece while Avery Levy scored 8 points with 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Jason Prager missed just a single shot for his 7 points and matched that with 7 glorious assists as well. Nuru Witherspoon scorched his way to 29 points for Heritage Christian in the loss.
Yavneh (27-3) now has 10+ days to prepare for a home playoff game on Tuesday February 18th. The opponent will be, barring an upset bigger than the world has ever seen involving teams from West Texas, Denton Calvary. They are familiar with this spot, having lost twice at the SRC in an opening round playoff game, but are much improved this season. A formidable front line and the evolution of one Jacob Helzer into one of the state’s featured ambidextrous distributors will challenge a team that can be confident as having never lost a home playoff game in their history. Will a 4th consecutive State run be in the cards for this deep, constantly evolving Bulldog team? How far can this team go and can they finish what has been a magical season? What legacy will the 4 Senior captains leave for future generations?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its 16th season, is written by…
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