Yavneh defeated Lucas Christian School 39-38 Monday evening to even the Bulldogs record at 6-6.
He may be no Superman but then again Superman’s veins contain no “Ice” either. While DFW’s extremely cold temperatures have chilled rising Junior Erez Krengel in recent games, “Ice” was back Monday night in a very big way!! The aforementioned heroics stopped Yavneh’s most recent losing streak at 2 and got their record back to even 12 games in. For as exciting a fashion as the game would end, the first half was just as sluggish for both teams. Eric Nelson scored the first 5 points for Lucas Christian to push them in front 5-2. While Yavneh came out firing three pointers, very few were finding the bottom of the basket. The Bulldogs trailed 5-4 after a quarter and the numbers were ugly. 18% shooting, 5 turnovers, and a bunch of missed offensive opportunities gave Lucas the lead. Despite having lost 52-29 in the earlier meeting, this was the second straight Lucas Christian first quarter win. Unlike the earlier meeting, however, Lucas Christian had some extra weapons: their head coach and a 6’6 post player named Josh Sauls. Krengel started to hit some of his shots in the second quarter, connecting on two three pointers off passes from Butch Shawel to vault Yavneh into the lead at 12-9. Shawel would finish with 4 big assists. A second quarter 6-0 run gave Yavneh the halftime lead at 15-11. 25% shooting and 3/13 three point shooting was extremely unimpressive but the game was controlled by Yavneh on the boards. A 21-9 first half rebounding lead, including six first half boards from Charlie Saginaw was extremely uncharacteristic for the ’06-’07 team. The Bulldogs came out of the locker room ready to make an impression on the second half. 3 early second half lay-ups with passes from William Zalstein and Bradley Alhadef to Alhadef and Michael San Soucie put Yavneh ahead 21-11 just a minute into the third quarter. Lucas would not go away. A 4-0 run put them back into the game at 21-15. Yavneh was able to keep the lead thanks to a Butch Shawel lay-up and some big defensive plays from Alhadef and Krengel. Ironically, those two took some huge charges on a night that charge taking machine Senior Sam Pulitzer was sick and not in attendance. Krengel delivered a buzzer beating three to end the third quarter, but “Ice” was just getting started. The 28-20 lead after three quarters would have been larger had it not been for the multiple missed free throws. After not getting to the free throw line in the first half, Yavneh made just 4-11 free throws in the second half as their charity struggles continued. While it seemed as if the Bulldogs had the game under control, Lucas Christian got the wake-up call they needed during the break between quarters. An immediate 6-0 run established that Lucas was in the game to the finish. Daniel Ostertag and big post John Sauls ran the pick-and-roll on multiple occasions throughout the fourth quarter to keep Lucas right there. The teams would go back and forth for almost the entire fourth quarter. Alhadef responded to one run to keep Yavneh in the lead with a runner but Lucas’s Ostertag tied the score at 32-32 with 2:46 left. After a Bulldog turnover, Lucas Christian took their first lead since early in the game with an offensive rebound put-back. With the game dwindling away, Aviv Schor missed on a mid-range jumper but this time Yavneh would get the stop they needed. Krengel snatched the rebound, was fouled, and would go to the line for a 1-and-1 with less than a minute remaining. In the final minute of games with Krengel at the free throw line, everyone knows the drill: “Ice” calmly sinks both shots. Applying full court pressure, Yavneh got a steal and a basket from Senior Aviv Schor to take a brief 36-34 lead. However, Ostertag beat everyone down the court to tie things at 36-36 and half a minute to play. He would, however, miss the critical free throw that he was given for making the basket while getting fouled. Saginaw cleared the rebound. A more than critical Yavneh turnover occurred with Yavneh trying to get the last shot and Jeremiah Spurgin took full advantage. The break away lay-up gave Lucas a lead of 38-36 with under 20 seconds to play. Going without a timeout, Yavneh had to get the ball to the basket to send the game into overtime. Instead, Alhadef hit Krengel with a perfect pass for a rhythm three pointer and “Ice” had delivered one more time. Spurgin chucked up an off-balance shot at the other end but the game was over.
Yavneh escaped with the 39-38 victory. Krengel led all scorers with 19 points. Charlie Saginaw grabbed 9 huge rebounds and Alhadef recorded 6 assists. Yavneh (6-6) will play Temple Christian Tuesday night.
The Kennel Report is written by Zack Pollack