Yavneh defeated the Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy of Elizabeth, New Jersey 43-25 Thursday evening in a Tier 1 qualifying game at the Red Sarachek Yeshiva University Tournament in New York. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 25-8.
Yavneh is back into the Quarterfinals at the YU Tournament for the first time in 4 years and they did so in blowout fashion Thursday. A stellar game plan was executed both offensively and defensively from the opening tip onward. Senior Captain Jordan Prescott seemed overwhelmed by the moment early on, missing his first trio of shots. With Prescott struggling and Sophomore Post Itai Guttman doing nothing as well for the first four minutes, a 6-5 deficit was just fine. The Bulldogs had survived the initial YU jitters and surely would settle down. Prescott made sure this settling down happened sooner than later. He nailed his final three shots of the opening stanza, most right in the middle of JEC’s zone defense. That 6-0 outburst established Yavneh’s still second leading scorer all-time at the tournament and surged the Bulldogs into an 11-8 advantage. Prescott continued to carve up that middle in the second period to the tune of 17-10. JEC just simply could not score against the man-to-man defense of Yavneh. Now, the shots were falling from all different directions for the Bulldogs. Seniors Jake Greif and Kevin Sulski bottomed jumpers and an active Adam Karnett finished a physical three point play for a methodical 22-10 lead. The run had been 17-4 over about a quarter and a half with JEC searching for offensive answers. The icing on the first half cake was a gorgeous dish from Sophomore Sam Kleinman to Greif against changing 2-1-2 zone adjustment to cap the half at 28-14. The Bulldogs were on the cusp of dominating an upper tier NY Yeshiva League team and needed a solid final 16 minutes to make it stand up.
In so many games this year a third period shift has been the determining factor. On this night, however, Yavneh just came out and piggy-backed their first half lead/success into a game that was just too short for JEC to make any significant run. The Bulldogs seemed to almost surprisingly be the more physical team, the quicker team, and better in just about every facet of the game. It was 100% apparent that this was Yavneh’s night when Kevin Sulski snagged one of his patented steals immediately after a Bulldog turnover. This time, however, the game needed someone to grab the second half momentum as no one had scored out of halftime for nearly 3 minutes. Sulski tried his hardest to turn the ball right back over to JEC but somehow the basketball caromed off fingertips and skulls to become an assist and a 30-14 mountain of an advantage. The game had turned into a run-away despite so many questionable Bulldog statistics. Prescott flat out could not find his stroke from the outside (1/10 three pointers); the Post Scoring Plan aka Itai Guttman scored all four of his points in garbage time; 16 turnovers and 9 offensive rebounds allowed should have done them in. All these factors left Yavneh with just a measly 43 points but the defense bailed them out allowing just 25 points on 28.2% shooting. Really the only excitement in the second half was the lone three ball from Prescott and a long-awaited post move from Guttman but neither really mattered much. Nor did Prescott’s old-fashioned three point play that put the game away for good at 39-23. Prescott led all scorers with 22 points and 8 rebounds while his counterpart Shaje Weiss poured in 17 points of his own with almost no help. Adam Karnett added 9 points/7 rebounds of his own in another very efficient game. The biggest advantage the Bulldogs probably had was the size differential which allowed them to control rebounding all night long. Jake Greif, Itai Guttman, and Ben Romaner had no opposition and combined for 15 punishing rebounds led by Greif with 8. Also of note, Sam Kleinman dished 4 assists and Sulski spear-headed the defensive attack by really limiting the damage by Weiss.
Yavneh (25-8) can finish no worse than 8th place at the tournament but obviously has their sights set much higher at this point. A trip to the Semifinals will be on the line at 11:30am Friday morning against Sarachek Defending Champion, top seed, and current #3 nationally ranked SAR from Riverdale, NY (#1 for most of the year) This is the opportunity the Bulldogs had been looking forward to and they will surely be ready for battle. This is the fourth Yavneh team in school history to make the Quarterfinals at Sarachek with a record of 1-2 in those games. The two losses have not been close and the lone win came in 2003 over HAFTR by 13 points (also a Yeshiva League Reg Season Champion that year) While Thursday’s win was grand it just makes Friday’s game that much bigger. In order to get this done, however, Prescott will have to step up even further, Guttman and the Posts will have to produce more offense, and the turnovers can not reach the high teens again. This will also be the first time in Sarachek Tournament history that two teams from Texas (Yavneh/Beren) have made the Quarterfinals in the same year.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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