Yavneh defeated Willow Park’s Trinity Christian 63-45 Saturday night in a TAPPS 3A Regional quarterfinal playoff game. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 30-3, keeps the season alive, and sends the Bulldogs to the State Tournament for the first time in school history.
YAVNEH IS FINALLY GOING TO STATE—In the 22 year history of the basketball program, the Bulldogs will make an appearance at the State Tournament at long last. Playing in their 4th elusive Regional Final, this time in a virtual post-season haunted home away from home at Dallas Lutheran, the Red-and-Black posted an emphatic wire to wire statement. Anything but the most artistic of victories, Yavneh imposed their will for the entire 32 minutes and gave their opponents from 59 miles westward nary a sign of life. Both teams started extremely tentative with no scoring for over a minute at the outset. Senior tri-captain Daniel Chernikov eventually leaned into a backboard leaning finish to score the first bucket of the game. Noah Rubinstein found fellow tri-captain Zach Epstein for a corner triple that extended the lead to 6-2 moments after Willow Park took advantage of their first of many offensive rebounds to get on the board. Less than a minute later, Rubinstein and Epstein hooked up again for another three ball from the very same corner. Those two shots were enormous in that absolutely nothing else for either side found the bottom of the net to that point. Epstein’s uncanny ability to hit big time long distance shots, specifically in Saturday night games with everything on the line, will go down as one of the great clutch shooting performances of any Bulldog era. The 9-2 Yavneh start put Trinity in a precarious situation in terms of score but neither team was crisp. A combined 3/20 for the two teams meant that the scoring in the first period was literally the two three balls and a Trinity put-back. The game seemed to take a big turn, however, on a play in the final minute of the opening stanza. Super-sub Pierce Bell stormed to the hoop with a driving head-on collision finish that turned into one of the loudest AND-ONEs of the season. The 12-2 edge that it produced seemed more dominant than it probably was. After all, the Bulldogs shot just 28%, forced 5 turnovers, had yet to get a single point from Griffin Levine Jr, and really had not even hit their stride. The second period was where Levine was determined to get going, although for the first 4 possessions could not quite get on the same page with the basketball or the basket. Turns out, though, Levine just needed Trinity to get him going. They threw him some great passes but the first one that was digested just beyond half-court for an easy driving layup clearly opened the flood gates. Bell found Levine on the next offensive trip for a high-post attack to the cup and a 16-7 lead. In an instant, Willow Park had awaken the Bulldogs leading scorer and the ball rolling downhill seemed like a giant asteroid. The 5th-7th consecutive Levine points came on a rhythm wing trifecta to extend the lead to 19-7. Meanwhile, the Yavneh pressure defense was taking its toll on a team that could not handle the pace of the game. The most discouraging turnover was an inbounds pass that went directly into the hands of Levine, who capitalized with two free throws and then a heat-check triple that sent the Lutheran maintenance staff scurrying to deactivate the smoke alarms in the building. The score had ballooned to 27-9 behind 12 points in 4 minutes for the incomparable Griffin Levine. The first 20 point lead of the night was not too far behind as Chernikov punished the sub-par Trinity post defenders right at the basket. The lead at halftime was 33-16 for Yavneh behind 15 forced turnovers and a magnificent defensive effort (27% shooting for WP). The book on Trinity was that they feed off offensive rebounds yet Yavneh actually won that category by a slim margin in the opening 16 minutes. The biggest factor in the separation was a 14-4 margin in free throw attempts. The Bulldogs were taking it to Willow Park and it would take a complete turnaround to challenge this seemingly insurmountable lead.
The game became extremely choppy in the second half as one team was in borderline desperation mode and the other was protecting a lead that, barring a major push, might already be enough. Rubinstein found Chernikov for another point blank layup to nearly build back the 20 point high lead at 37-18. Trinity Senior sharp-shooter Jaxon Davis would not let his team go quietly into the night as he finally started to build up some steam. An 8-2 Willow Park spurt was their best of the game and, all things considered, put them in prime position down just 39-26 and 10 minutes still to be played. Davis connected on 5 three pointers in the game and that run was uncomfortable for a Bulldog team that seemed to be in total control. The brilliance of this Yavneh team has been its depth and the layers of talent opponents have had to deal with. That 13-point lead could have become 9-10 and been a major issue but instead Freshman Jonah Eber calmly buried a wing triple right on cue off a great feed from Bell and instead the lead quickly swelled back to 42-26. Eber then stepped in front of an errant pass that created a pair of Levine free throws to end the third period at 44-26. That mini 5-0 response engineered by the opportunistic rookie allowed the Bulldogs to re-establish the momentum in this contest. To that end, the final 8 minutes turned into a glorified free throw shooting contest for the most part. Trinity finally got to Yavneh on the offensive glass which did provide for the best offensive output period of the game. The Bulldogs, however, were not missing many of the freebies on this night and that made it impossible to chip away at a lead that never sunk below 13 points. On two occasions the lead got to 14 and then 13 points but both of those times Epstein drilled a total of two more three balls from the Epstein Corner. The most impressive play by Epstein may have been the final dagger possession in which he faked the corner pop and swung the ball to Rubinstein, who lasered a pass to Chernikov for the easiest of bunny finishes. As the game was salted away amidst more Willow Park offensive rebounds than days in some Februarys, it became crystal clear that this Bulldog team was so far superior to any of the other teams in their quarter of the TAPPS 3A bracket. Griffin Levine led the way with 22 points and 5 steals. He took over the game in that decisive second period and his 12/12 flawless free throw game was the recipe of a champion. Daniel Chernikov added 16 points and seemed untouchable in this game. When the ball got into Chernikov inside the painted area it was lights out and at least two points in this game. Zach Epstein’s four three pointers were another 12 points in a big time game but that is just what he does. Each shot was enormous in terms of time and score, and a big factor in the win. Noah Rubinstein and Pierce Bell were the biggest reasons that Willow Park could not exert their dominance on the glass until it was too late, a huge key to the victory. Rubinstein collected 9 rebounds to go along with his 6 assists and 4 steals while Bell gulped up 6 rebounds in heavy traffic as he battled in the trenches all night long.
Yavneh (30-3) has already secured their place in history. This team will have the best winning percentage of any team in school history, will be the team with the second most wins in school history, and is the first to play in a coveted State Final 4. Thursday morning at 9am the Bulldogs will embark on a new journey in Abilene, Texas. They have won 2 tournaments, won a share of the District 3 title, and now are 2 wins away from a state title. The first team to stand in their way is Semifinalist Covenant. Indeed, this is the same Covenant team separated by less than 1.4 geographic miles…the same Covenant team that the Bulldogs defeated by a combined 46 points in their 2 meetings this season…and yes the same Covenant team that has stomped through the playoffs with a pair of upset victories to earn their own spot at State. Can the Red-and-Black defeat one of their district foes on the biggest of stages far away from home and play for the TAPPS 3A championship? Will anyone be able to slow down this Yavneh team that has won 26 of their last 27 basketball games? What is the final lasting legacy for this squad that will be the gold standard for the next generation of Bulldogs?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!
The Kennel Report, now in its 13th season, is written by…
Zack Pollack CTDC M&M
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