HSAA North-B defeated Yavneh 41-36 Tuesday night. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 20-8.
Another HSAA North basketball team halted another Yavneh winning streak Tuesday behind nine devastating offensive rebounds in a low scoring tilt. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-6 lead behind a good start from Senior Captain Jake Greif. Horrendous shooting from HSAA allowed Yavneh to hold the three point lead after a single period. They shot just 16% from the field and only hung in with their four offensive rebounds. The most impressive stat for the Bulldogs was their 1 first quarter turnover. They were getting shots nearly every possession. That trend continued into the second period but held only an 11-6 advantage due to several miscues at the basket. In fact, the first half saw Yavneh miss 11 shots inside the painted area. The best offensive sequence during the first 16 minutes included a pair of possessions to deliver a 17-12 lead. Freshman Ori Guttman threw a nice lob to brother Itai and also used the bounce to glide into a great drive. Jordan Prescott followed that action with a coast to coast finish of his own but HSAA also started to click from the outside. Grabbing a 20-17 halftime lead, the visitors had held Prescott to just 4 points on 2/4 shooting. The Bulldogs still had an unbelievably low turnover number of just three but all the point blank misses were leaving valuable points on the table in a grinder of a game. HSAA had caught up in field goal percentage to match Yavneh with identical 8/25 shooting.
Once again the third quarter started with a bang for the Bulldogs. They have played some magnificent basketball to start second halves this season and Tuesday was no exception. Greif once again scored the first basket, continuing his extremely efficient game. That spring boarded the 8-0 run right from the outset. Prescott chipped in with a much more aggressive third period, going end to end on two straight trips to build the 5 point lead. All night long, however, HSAA made timely shots and finished periods with runs. Methodically they re-captured the lead at 31-29 to end the third stanza. The Bulldogs just could not get consistent offensive performances from anyone down the stretch as the offensive rebounds and now turnovers doomed the final period. On any number of HSAA three point attempts that went astray the game could have been out of reach. A four point deficit with 6:27 remaining finally turned into 6 with 2:14 to go. Given the offensive struggles for Yavneh it was just too much to overcome on this night. Prescott led all scorers with 13 points but did not have one of his signature nights. While Greif scored 7 points and grabbed six rebounds on 3/4 shooting, the other two points struggled inside. Itai Guttman did still manage 8 points. For a team that has been begging for multiple contributions from role players to go along with the Prescott/Guttman tag team, Tuesday was a major disappointment. Not only did no one else step up but the usual numbers did not come from the tag team either.
Yavneh (20-8) can chalk this one up to an off night. After six solid games, this team will surely not let one bad outing derail the momentum being built for the stretch run. A bounce-back game is sure to follow.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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