Yavneh defeated Mc Kinney Christian 41-33 Thursday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 17-8 (8-1).
Junior David Steinbrecher picked a great night to have his most efficient career game, rescuing Yavneh with 14 ginormous points nearly all on perfect 3/3 three point shooting Thursday. Sure the Bulldogs turned the ball over 20 times and yielded 12 offensive rebounds to a team that could not hit the broad side of a Mc Kinney barn for most of the night but in the end the play of Steinbrecher and Senior Noah Weiss were enough to somehow escape and win another district road game. A somewhat disheveled start for both teams with strange turnovers ended on a Jonathan Ochstein layup off a nice feed from Ori Guttman. Daniel Chernikov finished at the basket for a 4-0 lead moments later and then Weiss followed up with a layup as well. Both of those were assisted by Ochstein, who had three nice first period assists. Weiss connected on a jumper as well and finished the first period with a lob finish from the setup by Guttman. Weiss had a stellar 3/3 opening quarter to stake Yavneh to a 10-6 advantage. Turnovers were the biggest problem and would only get worse. At times the game felt like a clinic of illegal screens. There were more of those called on the road team alone in the first half than combined made field goals by both teams. Nevertheless, Mc Kinney Christian began the second period with their hottest shooting all night, etching out a 5-0 run behind marksman Blake Gomaa. He added an extra A to his last name for one connection well beyond NBA range. The spurt gave Mc Kinney an 11-10 lead but that was instantly erased with the only made basket/points of the second period for the Bulldogs. Weiss found Steinbrecher for a wing triple that put Yavneh into a 13-11 halftime lead. With those three points for the entire second period, this game had simply turned into something less than just great defense on both sides. 10 Bulldog turnovers meant they attempted only 10 shots from the field and actually made 60% of them. Meanwhile, the home team trailed by only a basket despite shooting 3/12 mostly due to the addition of 4 free throws to Yavneh’s 0 attempts. Mc Kinney had brought the level of this game so far down that they actually seemed set up to have a chance for the upset on their home floor.
Minutes into the second half the outlook was not getting any better for Yavneh and Mc Kinney had found a way to tie the score at 13-13. It was as if the entire game was one long slow-motion replay with the annoying audio. Moments later Steve Levine, though, spotted an oasis on a night where the lid was on both baskets. Shining in neon lights on this evening, David Steinbrecher caught the basketball in rhythm and deposited a line drive three point response for a 16-13 lead….in the third quarter. Levine showed off his patented steal for a layup as he zig-zagged to the right before finishing right down Main Street for an 18-13 edge. A basket from Mc Kinney was no equalizer as Steinbrecher scorched another long distance shot, this time from the right corner. The night officially belonged to Steinbrecher but now multiple threats were clicking as Chernikov, who had been sidelined with foul trouble most of the game, made quick work in the low post for a 23-17 lead. Just as the sickness and injury bug has been spreading through the Bulldogs this week, the three point shooting fortunately was just as contagious. Senior Grant Prengler went to the left corner and hit his own three point field goal off a nice Ori Guttman pass. The lead got as high as 7 points with all the hot third period shooting but more screens that were deemed illegal or deflated or something kept the margin at just 4 points heading to the final stanza. Levine set up Weiss on a nice pick-and-roll reverse layup finish to re-establish a 6 point lead and the game-high lead of 8 points was first achieved with 3:02 to play in the contest on another Weiss layup in transition from a fourth Guttman assist. Mc Kinney’s Gavin Corley connected on an important three pointer to trim the lead to 5 points but the most damaging fourth quarter possession to Yavneh seemed to last forever. With the game all but sealed at 35-28 with 1:41 to play, Mc Kinney Christian scored a basket and was awarded a free throw. They not only rebounded that errant free throw attempt to get fouled again, but repeated the scenario after making the first free throw again. The 5 free throw attempts in 3 seconds of clock action has to be close to a Mc Kinney record but the Bulldogs managed to finally gain possession with a Levine rebound on the third try. 2/5 free throws down the stretch left the game at a very tenuous 37-33 with 41.3 seconds to play but Steinbrecher decided to close out his big night with a man’s rebound and two flawless free throws. Chernikov did the same for a game-sealing rebound with 2 of his own free throw makes and the escape was officially complete. David Steinbrecher led all scorers with 14 points on 3/4 field goal and 5/6 free throw shooting. Even the shot he missed could be considered an off-the-backboard assist to Ori Guttman. Noah Weiss added 10 points on 5/6 shooting to go along with 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks and played the entire 32 minutes. Ori Guttman’s 6 rebounds and 4 assists as well as Steve Levine’s 4 steals provided just enough pop to get the Bulldogs through in a hostile environment.
Yavneh (17-8) has earned their BYE in district play, which in this super district amounts to not even a week off. Most of that week will be spent preparing to avenge their lone district loss as they travel to Cedar Hill for a Trinity Christian rematch next Thursday. It will be interesting to see what the Bulldogs can accomplish in the most hostile of environments if they can eliminate a good portion of the 37 turnovers from the first meeting. Health and recovery will be a big factor over the next 6+ days if this team is to catapult itself back into a tie for the District 3 lead.
The Kennel Report, now in its eleventh season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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