Heritage Christian Academy of Rockwall defeated Yavneh 57-53 in OVERTIME Tuesday night. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 17-8 (5-5).
Heritage Christian made amends for a 37 point drubbing in January at the hands of Yavneh by shooting the lights out Tuesday. For a second consecutive night the Bulldogs found themselves playing an overtime period but the real story was how their opponent improved by 30 percentage points and missed just 11 shots over an entire game + overtime. Heritage was ready to fire from the opening tip streaking to an easy 4-0 lead with a pair of layups to start. David Steinbrecher connected on a jumper before 2 more HCA baskets went in for a 4/4 start. Steve Levine battled back with a corner triple only to watch Heritage score nearly every time they touched the ball. In fact, HCA was 7/7 while the Bulldogs started 4/5 themselves. The combined 12/13 shooting in the game had both defenses scratching their heads. The only time the home team was not scoring was when they turned the ball over and built an 18-10 advantage. When HCA connected on a buzzer beating three point heave off the backboard, one had to wonder what on Earth was going on. 9/10 (90%) shooting was other-worldly and staked Heritage to a 21-14 lead after a period of play. Again Yavneh was in a hole on the road but Griffin Levine’s floater coupled with a Noah Rubinstein steal/assist to Steve Levine cut the deficit to 21-18 moments into the second period. The Bulldogs were not getting traditional stops with defensive rebounds as HCA was still connecting on nearly every shot they took but they were at it again forcing 15 first half turnovers. Steve Levine was almost as hot from the field as the Heritage team and bottomed a three ball to tie the game at 21-21 midway through the second quarter. If there was a moment that HCA thought about the 37 point loss this had to be it after shooting 90% through a period and now to be tied. However, they kept attacking and quickly built a 4 point edge. Steinbrecher hit a late three pointer to trim the lead to a single point at 27-26 for halftime and, all things considered, Yavneh was in decent shape. HCA shot 12/14 (85%) but turned the ball over 15 times. The Bulldogs big issue was taking 13 three pointers to just 12 inside the arc and misfiring from distance for much of the half.
Heritage continued a torrid shooting pace, hitting runners, three pointers, and the traditional walk into the lane for layups against the Yavneh defense. Steve Levine was again carrying the team, drilling a three ball of his own to the the game at 29-29. HCA responded with a triple but Levine went hard to the rack and then Steinbrecher connected inside the paint to keep the deficit at just 1 point. Heritage executed a critical 6-0 spurt just when it looked like the Bulldogs might grab their first lead of the game. Now 40-33 late in the third period, the road team was on the ropes in another district road game. Micah Romaner made an immediate impact by connecting on a foul line jumper courtesy of a Griffin Levine pass and then another flip shot in the lane off another feed from the Sophomore point guard. Romaner’s run cut the margin to just 3 points and Yavneh trailed just 42-39 after Rubinstein stole a rebound and fed Steve Levine to beat the third period buzzer. HCA had barely slowed their shooting in the second half but the biggest difference was that they were not turning the ball over at breakneck speed anymore. Still, Rubinstein stole a basketball for a layup to keep the Bulldogs within 4 points and a Jonathan Ochstein steal led to an assist to Steve Levine in the corner to cut the lead to 47-44. Yavneh crept within a single point multiple times with a pair of Steve Levine free throws and then a Zach Epstein three response to another of HCA’s 6/8 downtown shooting. A prolonged 12-5 Bulldog run gave the Red and Black their first lead of 51-50 with 1:43 to play courtesy of a Steve Levine look away move drawing a foul. The game seesawed in the final moments but an active possession with offensive rebounds by Steinbrecher, Ochstein, and multiple Levines led to a Griffin Levine floating/guided shot. That hit gave the Bulldogs a 53-52 lead in the final 23 seconds but with 8.2 seconds a rebounding foul halted the celebration. HCA’s Christian Pettit split the free throws and the Bulldogs failed to get off a reasonable shot to end regulation.
Going to overtime two consecutive games is like playing with fire and Will Treffinger issued a painful third degree burn from the corner. That shot was the last of 23 field goals on only 11 misses for Heritage Christian. But those 3 points were more than enough to contend with a Yavneh team that did not score a single point in the extra session. 5 more three pointers found various locations not in the basket for the Bulldogs in the waning moments of a third gut-wrenching road loss to beatable district opponents. Steve Levine was the offense with 29 points to lead all scorers while David Steinbrecher and Noah Rubinstein combined for an additional 13 points. Rubinstein also controlled the glass to the tune of 11 rebounds in addition to 5 assists and steals.
Yavneh (17-8) fell right back to the .500 mark in District 3 with the loss and once again finds themselves in the middle of a log-jam to decide the 3rd, 4th, and 5th playoff spots. A pivotal back-to-back with current third place Covenant is on the docket for Thursday and then Monday. The two game stretch will go a long way in determining if the Bulldogs will have a shot at third place or be playing for their playoff lives in the final 4 games of district play. In any event, a consistent defensive effort will be needed over the final 6 games to have a chance at any playoff spot. This team has shown glimpses but not prolonged consistency and hopefully the eventual return of Daniel Chernikov will provide relief at both ends of the court and open up opportunities for other players.
The Kennel Report, now in its twelfth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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