Yavneh defeated Thomas Jefferson 53-44 Wednesday night. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 9-4.
The rematch played out almost identical to the first meeting. While both teams knew the game was actually at Thomas Jefferson this time, very little else varied from the first meeting. Yavneh still could not keep TJ off the offensive glass and TJ still could not go more than 20 seconds without committing a foul. An entirely different referee crew issued the TJ coach the same game-sealing technical foul that he received in the first meeting and moments later the Bulldogs had a margin of victory within a point of the other game.
The opening minutes showed signs that this could actually be a Yavneh runaway. Senior Captain Jake Greif had a dominant start with two big finishes to secure a 7-0 lead. Both teams played careless all evening, aided mostly by a slippery floor that resembled an oil field at times. TJ finished the first period on a 10-4 run to make the game close once again as most of the first contest had been. The Bulldogs turned the ball over twice to begin the second quarter and that is when the flood of offensive rebounds started for TJ. A see-saw second period saw the home team pull ahead of Yavneh 21-19 at halftime. Jordan Prescott scored 10 points but the developing story was his team’s total inability to control the defensive glass. The Bulldogs were out-rebounded 21-10 overall and 11-1 on the offensive glass in the first 16 minutes. Spoiler Alert: IT WOULD GET WORSE!!
In a pleasant turn of events, Yavneh controlled the start of the second half. Greif again proved to be an offensive threat, tying the game at 21-21 but TJ would score the next 4 points. While that was the biggest lead of the game for TJ, it seemed to wake up the Bulldogs in all aspects except of course defensive rebounding. Prescott swooped to the hoop for an important three point play and then Kevin Sulski, who played the entire 32 minutes, found Josh Lynn camping out under the hoop. The Bulldogs recaptured the lead for good when Itai Guttman tipped in a missed shot with 3:40 to play in the third stanza. Sophomore David Rudomin took a huge charge and connected on a couple clutch free throws to complete the 15-7 Yavneh run. The lead was 36-32 but it was getting to the point that Thomas Jefferson’s only offensive hope were missed shots leading to offensive rebounds. As the fourth quarter began, the two trends that continued to dominate this match up were the Yavneh lack of rebounding and the TJ foul situation. A huge point of success for the Bulldogs in the first game was their ability to live at the free throw line down the stretch. The rematch was no exception. Yavneh was into the free throw bonus well before the start of the final period once again. In all, they shot 28 free throws, 17 of them by the almost automatic Prescott. On the rare occasions that TJ did not have a chance to commit a foul, their increased pressure left gaping holes right at the basket for easy chip shot layups that helped bolster the lead. Sulski found Prescott and Lynn found Sam Kleinman for two easy buckets down the stretch. Through it all, TJ continued to get all their offense from the 27 offensive rebounds they were busy collecting. That anomaly combined with a home cooking scorers error that gave TJ an extra two points cut the lead to 50-44 with 46.9 seconds left. There would be no dramatics, however, on this night. Prescott finished with 29 points and shot 16/17 from the free throw line to lead all scorers. Second leading scorer Adam Karnett was sidelined for the second straight game with a shoulder injury but six other players scored to pick up the slack.
While 27 offensive rebounds is a month’s worth for most teams, the Bulldogs were able to escape with their own parade to the charity stripe. Regardless, the team has reeled off 4 straight since returning from Houston and has a chance for a 4-0 week. Yavneh (9-4) will travel to Lucas Christian in Allen, Texas Thursday. The Bulldogs will try and continue the dominance over Lucas that they have enjoyed ever since Erez Krengel’s miracle 4 point play to end the 2007 meeting.
The Kennel Report, now in its eighth season, is written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
TL