Yavneh defeated Poetry Community Christian School 53-40 Monday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 20-4 (1-0).
Bags may fly free on Southwest Airlines but there are some places in the southwestern United States where freedom just doesn’t ring. Yavneh missed 15 free throws Monday but rode their second half defensive gem en route to a second straight 13-point victory. The Bulldogs looked to be sharp as Senior Captains Sam Kleinman and Itai Guttman connected on an immediate above the rim finish for the game’s first basket. Guttman finished a strong post move moments later for 4-0 but an always scrappy Poetry squad responded with a 6-1 run to grab the lead. For the first time in forever, Yavneh’s defense was getting manhandled in the low post by lanky forwards. Early foul trouble for Kleinman was almost a blessing in disguise as Sophomore Steve Levine burst into the game with a nice find of Senior David Rudomin for a triple before he drove strong to the rim’s left side for an electric finish. Guttman not only had his post moves working early in this contest but also managed to finish the 9-0 Bulldog response with a feed to David Steinbrecher for a could-be three point play. The “could be” three point plays were spreading like a plague as connecting on free throws eluded players of all shapes and sizes on this night. Yavneh held a 14-8 lead after one period of play doubling up Poetry in shooting percentage but connecting on just 1/7 three pointers. Poetry bridged the first and second quarters with their own 7-0 spurt in a game that was back and forth with several interchanging scoring runs. With the lead cut to a single point, Rudomin answered with his second three pointer off a pass from Senior Adam Schor. This game featured a glimpse of the Big Three Yavneh post attack that so many media outlets had previewed prior to the season. The emergence of the little brother lost at sea may finally have taken its initial steps in this game. While this would really surface in the second half, one play may have unlocked the door. Very Junior Noah Weiss snatched an offensive rebound and in one motion dished to Schor for a layup that maintained the lead. Meanwhile, a pick and roll play with Seniors Jason Epstein and Itai Guttman built the lead back up to multiple possessions before Poetry salvaged a tie at 25-25 for halftime. The visitors from The Heartland had totally shifted field goal percentage numbers but were even almost exclusively due to 9 Bulldog turnovers and multiple free throw misses that would only get worse. Yavneh has used multiple third period formulas to put away games and this was just about the ugliest yet, although very effective. Basically, a defense that had looked suspect at best over the first 16 minutes suddenly clamped down and allowed Poetry next to nothing. On the offensive end, the Bulldogs figured out that if they were going to miss multiple free throws and layups that they might as well turn that into a positive. A quick 6-0 run out of the gate was spear-headed by an Itai Guttman failed three point play conversion that led to an additional three point play by offensive rebound-minded David Rudomin. Yavneh was pounding the glass and Poetry just could not grab a rebound. All the missed free throws landed back in the hands of the home team as did a buffet of missed layups. The points were adding up 1 at a time and in less than 4 minutes had methodically built itself up to 33-25 with the first 8 points of the second half. Kleinman, making a brief appearance in between his 2nd and 3rd fouls of the game, found Schor on a wide-open alley-oop pass for the third time but the first that actually recording real points. Based on the flow of the game it seemed time for the Poetry run to tighten the score back up. This time, however, Noah Weiss slowly emerged from the sea to take over the game. Schor found him for a tough inside finish but the monster series of events that followed may very well have solidified the arrival of The Big Three. Weiss was rebounded his own misses, finishing at the rim, and collecting steals at the defensive end for a 43-30 lead to end the third period. It was a sequence in which Poetry realized that this game was finished. The contest became sloppy on both ends in the final period but irrecoverable damage had been done. Neither team managed much offensively until very late in the fourth quarter but the defensive contributions of Jason Epstein and Junior Lee Gelsky highlighted the coast home. Epstein set the tone defensively with a bounce back charge taken, a big floor-burn dive, and of course one of his patented offensive rebounds in big man traffic to keep a lengthy possession alive playing defense while on offense. Gelsky took the first of two dramatic mid-air charges moments after checking into the game. The two great defensive momentum building plays were sandwiched around a block/rebound which added up to three stellar defensive possessions in the final 3:21. When they were not at the free throw line the Bulldogs did some great things in that second half, leaving little doubt as to the outcome well before the game began to wind down. Adam Schor quietly led all scorers with 17 points and 11 rebounds for a sleep-walking double-double. David Rudomin added 13 points and was offensively active in addition to his normal lock-down defense. Itai Guttman also recorded 9 points to go along with 7 rebounds. More than half the points came from the combo of posts Guttman, Schor, and Weiss. Yavneh (20-4) is back to league play Tuesday when they host Mc Kinney Christian. Traditionally, Mc Kinney Christian has had no success versus the Bulldogs but the conference dimension of this rivalry raises the stakes and makes this a super important game.
The Kennel Report, now in its tenth season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack
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