Rambam Mesivta of New York defeated Yavneh 40-39 Sunday morning in the championship game of The Wilner Tournament. The loss drops the Bulldogs record to 15-12.
A role reversal aided by critical mistakes in the final minute denied Yavneh a tournament championship in Baltimore Sunday. Rambam’s Yosef Rosenthal’s putback as time expired was the final blow in a game that featured far too many errors to be pinned on a single play. Unlike the previous game, this one could not have started slower for the Bulldogs. Rambam took the first period 8-2 in the worst offensive display of Yavneh’s rollercoaster season. The 1-3-1 zone defense that the Bulldogs solved early on Saturday night stymied the Dallasites Sunday, especially in the opening quarter. Yavneh shot a whopping 14% and Rambam was able to reverse the rebounding differential from the other meeting. Elan Kogutt led all Bulldog scorers with the entire 2 points. It’s a good thing that the first period only lasted for eight minutes because Yavneh went berserk by the time the second came around. Trailing 11-2, Senior Josh Karnett spearheaded the rally by finally breaking down the 1-3-1 defense, finding Jordan Prescott for a layup. He subsequently visited the opponent’s bench head-first, forcing a turnover that got the game moving towards up-tempo. The biggest problem with that zone defense was the speed with which the Bulldogs were able to move the ball. The deficit remained 8 points at 17-9 before Prescott picked up the groove he had been in all weekend. Two straight three pointers instantly put Yavneh in the game down 17-15. They actually got as close as a single point at halftime, aided by a Kogutt three point play. The 19-18 score seemed similar to the previous game but some interesting dynamics were at work. Yavneh had scored 2 points followed by 16 points per quarter, and all points came from Kogutt (7) and Prescott (11). The 14% shooting had ballooned to 43%, and the Bulldogs were getting dangerously close to being in rhythm. Yavneh was finally able to tie the contest at 24-24 on a Kogutt leak out layup halfway through the third period. He also converted on a free throw for the lead moments later. The lead, however, was short lived. Possibly a pre-cursor, Rambam grabbed the lead on a three pointer at the third quarter’s buzzer to lead by a single point again. It seemed like the entire two games featured a one point spread. The Bulldogs got steam-rolled in the first 150 seconds of the final period. Again stagnant, Rambam made them pay by connecting on two field goals for a 38-32 advantage. The only offense the Bulldogs could generate was Kogutt transition steals netting left-handed layups. One of those followed by a three pointer got him in a rhythm of his own, and trimmed the margin to a single point again at 38-37 with 2:43 to play. Yavneh’s defense stiffened, allowing no points for 5:25 of the final quarter. It was that extra second that doomed the cause. A pair of huge Ben Romaner hug rebounds were sandwiched in between a sea of Rambam offensive rebounds, all part of a stretch where they missed everything in sight and then some. The Bulldogs still had one point to make up, and scrambled in their man defense to do it. Finally, with less than 20 seconds remaining, the mistake came and Kogutt’s paws gobbled up the basketball for the streaking go-ahead field goal. Just like the previous game, Rambam’s attempt to take the game’s final shot was thwarted by a throw away. With Yavneh unable to convert on the 1&1 bonus free throw, Rambam had one final chance. Not having scored in nearly six minutes during Kogutt’s 7-0 run, the missed jump shot was no surprise. After Yavneh had done such a marvelous job on the boards for nearly two games, the offensive rebound bug bit them as time expired. While the dramatic follow lay-in both broke the hearts of Bulldog Nation and sent Rambam into mass hysteria, it was a series of plays emblematic to Yavneh’s late season struggles that did them in. For weeks, turnovers, poor shot selection, missed free throws, and opponents offensive rebounding have been the source of trouble and it all culminated in 39-40 on that Baltimore Park Heights JCC scoreboard Sunday. Kogutt and Prescott scored 26 and 13 respectively, accounting for all the points. They also received All-Tournament Team honors for their trouble. Also of note, both teams were upset with the management of the clock in the final seconds. Rambam believed that too much time ran off after the missed free throw while the Bulldogs believed that it took more than 1 second for a player to dribble nearly 18 feet while being chased moments later.
Yavneh (15-12) will play Rambam of Baltimore Monday night in an added game due to the team being stuck in Maryland until Tuesday.
The Kennel Report, now in its sixth season, is written by…
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