Yavneh defeated Ida Crown of Chicago 54-52 Monday morning to win the Tier Ill championship of the tenth annual Red Sarachek Tournament. The win ends Yavneh’s season with a record of 18-16. It marks the first championship of any kind at the Yeshiva University Tournament. The 4-1 record at this year’s tournament also marks the first winning record in Yavneh’s Sarachek Tournament history, is the first time the team has not lost by double digits in any game in New York, and gives the Bulldogs a winning season that was very much in doubt as late as Sunday. In fact, the 5 games were decided by a total of just 13 points.
The rollercoaster that was the 2005-2006 Yavneh Bulldogs basketball season came to a close mid-Monday morning in fitting and grand fashion. Filled with extreme irony, the team that threatened to become Yavnen’s first with a losing record turned out to not only have a winning record but was able to roll through Tier III like no other Bulldog team had ever competed at the Sarachek tournament. More irony would rear its head at the game’s conclusion. Yavneh has been hard pressed to even play close games in recent years at the tournament much less win 4 nail biters in 5 days. The “Cardiac Kids” were at it again Monday morning and this time for sure looked dead in the water. Trailing 40 just seconds into the game, it looked like Yavneh could not compete with a national power such as Ida Crown. They were big and quick but proved to have a porous interior. The Yavneh run and gun was to be in full force but a Michael San Soucie injury just 2 minutes into the game changed plans in a hurry. Without two full shifts, Coach Baruch went back to his regular season starter rotation. Yavneh quickly went on a 5-0 spurt to cornrnand first quarter control. Super Soph David Naxon’s 6 first quarter points led Yavneh to a 16-14 lead after the stanza. That would be all the scoring for Naxon during the first half. Long time Ida Crown coach Howard Braun used a box defense to eliminate Naxon for much of the game. Yavneh was able to get others involved as offensive execution was near perfect for much of the second quarter. The Bulldogs built a 7 point lead towards the end of the quarter but a late Aces run cut the lead to 4 at 27-23 at halftime. The key play was yet another missed Yavneh free throw box out leading to extra Ida Crown points. Erez Krengel ended the half with a buzzer beating lay up. It was the second straight half in which he scored 2 points in the closing 2 seconds. The second half turned extremely ugly. Both teams experienced droughts but Ida Crown surged in front 42-39 to end the third quarter mainly because of their continued dominance on the boards. Ida Crown won the battle of the boards 27-21 but every one of their 11 offensive rebounds seemed to result in a basket including another missed free throw box out. Ida Crown did not shoot many three pointers but when they did it was usually money in the bank. 3-5 shooting from behind the arc pushed Ida Crown’s lead to 49-45 with 2:33 to play in the game. Yavneh looked totally stymied down the stretch and there seemed to be no reason to think anything would change for the final 2:33. The two teams had combined for 39 turnovers and, with Yavneh trailing and Naxon silenced, the team was on the brink. With the Aces trying to melt the clock, the next “Yavneh starhad to make a play. Naxon got his hands on a basketball and looked to streak to the other end of the court. Benjamin Goldman of Ida Crown had other ideas. Grabbing Naxon’s jersey, Goldman was called for an intentional foul (2 shots and the ball). Naxon hit both foul shots and senior Josh Abrams hit an enormous three pointer to give the Bulldogs the lead 50-49. Daniel Alter fired back with a three the other way for more of his 17 points and Yavneh was down 2 with under a minute to play. Abrams, playing in his last game, had stepped up big time. After three below average games, Abrams came up huge Sunday and now had delivered the lead for Yavneh Monday late in the game. They would be watching for him now with Yavneh again trailing. It was time for the other senior to shine. Amitai Scott would not disappoint as he bulleted a pass to Sunday’s hero Krengel. The precision assist tied the game but Krengel missed today’s big free throw. In an ultra-aggressive move by Baruch, Yavneh attacked Ida Crown at half court rather than allow them to hold for the final shot. After turning the ball over to Ida Crown on the previous possession, junior Sam Pulitzer came up with the defensive play of the game. Usually, Pulitzer will try to take a charge no matter the situation. This time he played free safety and picked off an entry pass to give Yavneh a chance with 15 seconds left. Electing to go without a timeout, Scott dribbled the ball into the frontcourt. In the final seconds, he hoisted a three point shot that was way off the mark but did a great job to get the ball up to the rim. As if to pass the torch directly to David Naxon and the bright future of the terrific sophomore class, Scott’s errant shot caromed directly into the hands of the star sophomore. Naxon rolled the ball into the basket using much of the rim as the game’s buzzer sounded. How ironic that Yavneh’s own offensive rebounds won them the final two games in the closing seconds during a tournament in which the Bulldogs were so severely beaten on their own defensive boards. The final play was so indicative of the leadership that Abrams and Scott showed to their apprentice sophomores for the entire season. Despite the fact that Naxon had an enormous tournament and will be the Tier III MVP, it is interesting to note that Josh Abrams still found a way to be the leading scorer in his final game with 16 points. Naxon added 15 and fellow sophomore Erez Krengel chipped in 14. Amitai Scott dished out 8 assists in his final game. Robert Weiss, Daniel Alter, and Benjamin Goldman all scored in double figures for Ida Crown.
With 2 solid juniors, an electric sophomore class, and an up and coming freshman, Yavneh has much to look forward to for next season. The influx of some great 8″ graders will not hurt the cause at all.