Yavneh defeated The Ramaz School of Manhattan NY 54-50 and Mae Boyar High School of Jerusalem Israel 80-32 in the first two of five preliminary games at the The Joseph and Florence Weiner Memorial Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland Wednesday. The Bulldogs season record now stands at 8-2.
Yavneh swept the first day of the Weiner Tournament for the second straight year, this time led by 46 points from Junior Griffin Levine in the pair of games. Determined not to find themselves in another classic tilt against a New York school that ends up with neither team sniffing 40 points, the Bulldogs were determined from the opening tip of the 2016 tournament to push the pace. Levine started the opening game with two pull-up jumpers and found Noah Rubinstein on the run for an early 6-2 lead. Daniel Chernikov’s tip follow and then foul line jumper had Yavneh out to a commanding 10-3 advantage moments later. Ramaz had a ton of trouble in the first half dealing with the Bulldog pressure defense and the offensive energy that was producing. Senior Liad Guttman was extremely active off the bench in the opening period of play, grabbing a pair of rebounds and setting up a Micah Romaner jumper. The Bulldogs 16-11 after one period behind 57% shooting ballooned to double digits behind a 7-0 run early in the second stanza. A huge Levine wing triple and a Rubinstein coast-to-coast finish pushed the Red and Black out to a 26-17 halftime lead. Cold shooting on the opening day of this tournament is nothing new so it was no surprise that the teams combined to shoot 3/16 from distance in the first 14 minutes of their respective journeys. Levine and Rubinstein combined for 19 first half points on 8/13 shooting. The pace quickened in the third period as both teams warmed up offensively with the Bulldogs building as much as a 15-point lead. The MO was the usual steal offense as Levine and Freshman buddy Jonah Eber teamed up for back-to-back-to-back steals. One resulted in a layup while the next two produced 6 quick points for a 41-28 edge. Testing both wings, alter ego Jonah ThreEber drilled two deep jumpers in succession to create game separation. Ramaz, however, who scored just 17 points in the entire first half, matched that total in the third period alone. Finding holes in the Bulldog defense and benefiting from several less than necessary fouls, the Rams began to chip away at their deficit. Levine sliced into the lane to dish a great pass for a Daniel Chernikov finish and a 44-34 lead heading into the final period but a costly drought to come put the Bulldogs in a precarious opening game position. Foul trouble and depth issues turned a 47-38 lead into a single possession game with a 7-0 Ramaz run at the worst possible time. One distance three pointer combined with a pair of three point plays at the rim all came during a 5:34 Yavneh scoreless streak chock full of turnovers and missed layups/free throws to leave the game at 48-46 with just 2:20 to go. In what is likely the biggest move of Noah Rubinstein’s career to this point, a crafty step-through finish in the paint with 1:28 to play doubled the lead suddenly at 50-46. A tense final minute of the teams trading free throws saw Levine bury the four most important freebies of a 24 hours to forget at the free throw line. Despite 12 offensive rebounds allowed, most in the final period, the Bulldogs had built just big enough of a lead to escape with a monster first win in Baltimore. Yavneh got three double-digit contributions with Griffin Levine leading the way with 21 points and 6 assists, a 13 point/7 rebound/4 assist effort from Noah Rubinstein, and a very admirable 11 point/9 rebound near double-double from Daniel Chernikov.
The second game was an action-packed 28 minutes of frenetic basketball in which Jerusalem’s Boyar HS was probably unprepared for from a standpoint of ball pressure. The combination of Yavneh’s high takeaway rate and Boyar’s lack of ball security produced a chemical reaction called 17 steals off of 32 turnovers that produced the same 32 points that their entire offense was able to generate for the game. Between Boyar giveaways which seemed to be a Cyber Wednesday super-sale gone terribly wrong, and Bulldog missed free throws (16 in total), this game was not for the thin-skinned casual observer. Micah Romaner started the steal-a-thon leading to a Griffin Levine tap pass to Daniel Chernikov for the game’s initial field goal. Another connection of the same variety and a Levine drive surged the Bulldogs to a quick opening drive touchdown at 7-0. The game quickly got out of hand for Boyar as they turned the ball over on the next 6 times they saw it and Levine decided to make that an extension of the layup lines from warm-ups. The Bulldogs were running a glorified transition drill with layups, three pointers, brunches, and autograph sessions all going on off the Boyar turnovers. 19-3 was the lead just over 4 minutes into the contest before Boyar was able to regroup. Out of the Baltimore fog came Or Cohen…or this game would have been absolutely one sided. Cohen put on an outside shooting display to fuel an 8-1 run that without a doubt was the highlight of Opening Day for Boyar. Other than a full blown epidemic of missed layups and free throws, Yavneh was rolling downhill for much of the first half. A 12-0 run back to start the second period essentially ended the competitiveness of the game complete with the Red Rocket launching a triple from the seats. That shot was just the start of a career high 10 point night for Eli Minsky and after Liad Guttman tethered a pass to Daniel Chernikov for a 39-20 advantage, the end of the end had come for the visitors from Israel. Somehow the Bulldogs were out-shot in the first half by 2% but even 9 missed free throws left them with a +6 free throw made differential thanks to the opponent being in the Triple Foul Bonus for the majority of the half. Another 17-8 spurt in the third period was keyed by a Jonah Eber steal leading to a Triipp Special roll to the rim. Only on this free throw night could Micah Romaner complete two AND NONES on one single possession. Junior Pierce Bell scored with a healing ankle to end the third quarter 63-30 and saw extended action for the first time since his injury. The final period was more of a defensive showcase for the Bulldogs, allowing just a single 2-point basket. Minsky scored several transition baskets and Eber completed a great lefty sweep drive with contact to put a bow on a dominant nightcap for Yavneh. It was a night for career highs as Griffin Levine notched 25 points to go along with 5 assists and steals while Eli Minsky’s 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists also added up to a new best. Daniel Chernikov, who has played undercover for much of his Baltimore 2+ year career, broke out with an 18 point night and Noah Rubinstein poured in the third double-digit rebound performance in 4 games with 12 more boards as well as 8 points.
Wednesday success is certainly not a ground-breaking achievement for this team that won all the pool play games and a semifinal last year but it is another encouraging start to what looks like a tournament that the Bulldogs will be in the mix to win. Yavneh (8-2) has a pair of their remaining 3 preliminary-round games up Thursday to attempt to earn a spot in the tournament Semifinals and they know from experience how crucial each game is in terms of jockeying for position. The morning tilt with host Beth Tfiloh could be a classic heavyweight bout with BT coming off a dramatic last seconds overtime victory to end the first day. That game, combined with a match-up against the CHAT Toronto team that gave that aforementioned game away will go a long way towards clearing up the picture for the elimination rounds in this crucial tournament.
The Kennel Report, now in its 13th season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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