Yavneh defeated Mc Kinney Christian 52-25 Thursday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 12-3.
If a team records more blocked shots than field goals allowed, chances are things are going well. Freshman Adam Karnett had his first true signature game, scoring an early career high 27 points on 11-15 shooting. That breakout performance, supported strongly by Karnett’s 7 of his team’s 18 steals to go along with their 11 blocked shots, allowed the Bulldogs to just barely break a sweat in making it 9 straight victories.
There would be no drama on this night, not even for a minute. A 7-0 Yavneh start already had the feel that it would be the youngster’s night. Karnett recorded 7 first period points on a variety of moves including his patented steal and uncontested layup combination on multiple occasions. The Bulldogs were ahead 16-1 nearly six minutes into the second quarter when finally Mc Kinney Christian recorded their first made shot from the field. In fact, despite a clutch buzzer beating three point miracle from just in front of the half-court line, Mc Kinney Christian trailed 23-6 at halftime. Yavneh wasn’t shooting 70+ % like the last meeting but their 43% was more than enough forcing 14 turnovers, allowing just 22% shooting, assisting on 8 of their 10 baskets, and getting 10 points/4 steals from Karnett.
The second half turned into merely a Yavneh steal and block exposition as Mc Kinney Christian found it nearly impossible to get a shot to the actual installed rim or even backboard. Freshman Itai Guttman and Junior Jake Greif each had 4 blocked shots and some of them were so physical that the opposing player ended up on the ground. The Bulldogs were so stellar defensively that the normally fluid scoring combination of Elan Kogutt and Jordan Prescott scored just 8 points combined on 9 shots from the field without struggling. The defense provided all the offense Yavneh would need plus some, and Karnett became the recipient of nearly all of that.
The 27 points and 7 steals equated to the best Yavneh Freshman performance in just over a decade. The 11 blocks unofficially will go down as a Yavneh team record in a single game as well. The one alarming statistic of the night was clearly the free throw disparity, particularly the amount of Mc Kinney Christian free throw attempts (16). The Bulldogs will have to shore up their interior defense before the tough stretch of games that are upcoming to have a chance to compete. Very few of the remaining teams on the Bulldogs’ schedule can be expected to connect on as few as 5 shots for an entire basketball game.
While this was a great feel-good game to end the semester on a high note and boast nearly a double digit winning streak, there will be no free lunches to end 2010. Yavneh (12-3) embarks on a Murderers Row stretch of games beginning in 13 days against RL Turner Public High School. Last season, an under-manned Bulldog skeleton crew choked away a sure victory in the final minutes at RLT. Now, they will have an opportunity to erase those bad memories, notch a 10-game winning streak, and carry all their momentum into 2011. Only time will tell!!
The Kennel Report, now in its seventh season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
MWJR? 3-9