Mesquite JV defeated Yavneh 46-36 Saturday evening. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 5-6.
Yavneh may have yet to figure out a winning formula but on more than one occasion thus far this season they have more than concocted a “recipe for disaster”. Turnovers, missed free throws, and allowed offensive rebounds have been the mix that has done the Bulldogs in so far in almost all of their losses. Saturday night was no different. 24 turnovers and no less than 13 missed free throws took away another potential win and for the first time in ’06-’07 the Bulldogs have a losing record. For the fifth time in the last six games, Yavneh came out flat to start the game. A 6-1 Mesquite start left the Bulldogs searching for answers on offense almost from the beginning. Although Yavneh would battle back to take a 7-6 lead, Mesquite closed out the quarter on a buzzer beating three pointer by Larrel Brown to lead 11-9. The lead would swell to 7 early in the second quarter due to a lack of execution by the home Bulldogs. Junior Bradley Alhadef kept Yavneh in the game with 9 first half points but developing power post Cory Remekan tallied 9 of his own to help Mesquite to a 26-20 lead at half. Yavneh would try to execute in the half court offensively against a younger Mesquite defense. With the lead having grown to 30-20 minutes into the third quarter, the Bulldogs displayed an old-school, Princeton-type offensive set designed to cash in on easy backdoor lay-ups. The patience they showed paid immediate dividends as they trimmed the lead to 30-28. The 8-0 run was a piece of excellent execution. However, turnovers and some bad bounces allowed Mesquite to counter with a 7-1 run of their own to end the third quarter. Every time Yavneh’s pressure was close to getting a key stop, it seemed that Mesquite would have one of their stray shots at the basket roll around and in. With turnovers preventing points on some Yavneh possessions, others ended with Mesquite fouling Bulldog players and sending them to the free throw line. This was not necessarily a good thing. Erez Krengel missed two out of three free throws as a result of a three shot foul to start the fourth quarter and missed two more critical ones later in the fourth. The Bulldogs free throw misses were so critical because of the lost points but also because of the missed opportunity to set up full court pressure. An Alhadef three pointer with 1:10 to go cut the lead to 6 at 41-35 but it was immediately followed by three points the other way on a lay-up with the foul. These mistakes have haunted Yavneh in their losses this season and will continue to if not remedied. Alhadef and Remekan each scored a game high 14 points. Mesquite JV now leads the all-time series 3-2.
Yavneh(5-6) will play at Lucas Christian Monday night. The Bulldogs beat Lucas Christian 52-29 earlier this season at home.
The Kennel Report is written by Zack Pollack