Yavneh defeated Mc Kinney Christian 62-41 Monday evening to push the Bulldogs record to 6-1.
For close to a decade. Yavneh basketball has been about setting a slow and methodical tempo to the game in order to win games on the defensive end of the court. Anyone to ever watch a Yavneh game knows the drill. Many can vividly remember Noam Scott holding the ball in the Yavneh frontcourt for long periods of time, draining the clock, frustrating the opposition, and most importantly playing YAVNEH basketball. The less than capacity crowd Monday night was the only thing that limited the shock on long time Yavneh/Chad Baruch followers and disciples as Yavneh cruised to a 62-41 victory over Mc Kinney Christian. It was as if the world had turned upside down. Yavneh came out with an all-out full court blitz with the sole intention of getting the ball and running it right back down their opponents’ throats. Yavneh’s top 10 players were split 5 and 5, and rotated equally using 1.5 – 2 minute hockey-style shifts, in order to turn over and wear out the opposition. It worked geniously as Mc Kinney was pressured into 25 turnovers. While this change of pace from Baruch’s traditional style of play was overwhelming to Mc Kinney and tremendously effective from wire to wire, the idea was not 100% original. Grinnell College, an lowa– Division III school (coached by David Arsenault), coaches a philosophy of wearing out the other team by constantly running. The philosophy there is so extreme that players are taught to pass up break away layups for transition 3 pointers and to allow the opposition to score if the press does not produce a steal within 6 seconds. Don’t confuse Baruch with any members of Run DMC too quickly, however. Only time will tell if this was an experiment, something that could be used in specific situations and for specific teams, or the new wave of a more athletic brand of Bulldog basketball. In all the commotion, David Naxon led the way with 17 points and Josh Abrams chipped in 11. Yavneh led virtually the entire way by double digits. Mc Kinney Christian cut the lead to as few as 6 late in the third quarter but wore down physically in both halves. Each time the Yavneh energy and their constantly rested waves of players exhausted Mc Kinney Christian on both ends of the court. Sam Pulitzer took yet another charge for the Bulldogs in a role that is quickly making Pulitzer a charge taking machine. Also of note, a technical foul was administered to Yavneh when William Zalstein checked into the game in the fourth quarter for absolutely no one. Zalstein was to have relieved Pulitzer, who had just picked up his 4th foul, but all 6 players remained on the court.
Yavneh will play Lewisville Temple Christian in their first true road game of the year Thursday evening in Lewisville.