Yavneh defeated Yeshiva of Waterbury 55-31 Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Memphis Cooper Invitational Tournament. The win begins the Bulldogs season at 1-0.
After an off-season of anticipation, promises, expectations, and prognostications by a variety of so-called experts in the field, Yavneh began their journey Thursday. That journey will span four states and four tournaments, and will be not only the culmination of a school-record 7 Senior careers but also the inauguration of no less than 7 under-class men ready to take Bulldog basketball to national heights. With a loaded roster of talent, experience, youth, exuberance, and hunger, this team would not allow a let down in the show’s opening act far away from home on a rainy October afternoon in Memphis, TN. From the opening tip, something seemed different about the team that had so miserably disappointed in this very spot just a year ago. Instead, the momentum of everything NON-MEMPHIS from 2012-13 carried the day and ultimately catapulted Yavneh into the Cooper Tournament quarterfinals without breaking much of a sweat. 2nd-year Senior Adam Schor was a difference maker all game long and immediately calmed everyone’s nerves with a pick-pocket full court assist to Senior Captain Sam Kleinman in stride. Waterbury could not get much done in their half court offense but proved to be very opportunistic as the Bulldogs essentially created offense for both teams. The first turnover of the year also produced the opponent’s first basket of the young season. Kleinman used a mid-first period outburst to set the tone and gain separation. He drained a triple from straight-away and then found Sophomore David Steinbrecher on the baseline for an 8-2 edge. Tri Co-Captain Itai Guttman secured the six point lead after the opening period with a tip-follow of his own miss. Meanwhile, Schor was starting to wear on Waterbury. While they had an experienced group of guards, Adam Schor was the one Guzman that they simply had no potential solution. Having to spend all energy developing a potion to slow the Yavneh bigs down, Waterbury was rudely introduced to sharp-shooting newcomer Zak Schultz. Kleinman found him in the short corner for a smooth delivery but then again on the next possession for a three point bomb that also hit nothing but the bottom of the net. Just as Schultz’s 5-0 personal run made the score 21-13, the Yeshiva of Waterbury balloon seemed to take on a gash the size of the Missisippi River in the distance. That moment was a time stamp in history that clearly sent notice to the world (or at least those in the gym) that this Bulldog team has much more than what meets the eye. While there is clearly something different about the depth of this team, some things never change. Waterbury kept within contact off of 6 Yavneh turnovers and a slew of offensive rebounds. A pair of Waterbury tip follows sent the game to halftime with just a slim 25-19 Bulldog advantage. While Yavneh avoided coming out flat in the opening half, they did not execute well and very much left Waterbury within striking distance. 7 offensive rebounds allowed and 6 turnovers fueled over 85% of the Bulldog opponent offense and like so many times during the great Yavneh run of 2012-13 a second half explosion was needed. Like so many young children across America on October 31, Adam Schor just needed a phone booth to change out of street clothes and into one of those blue/red Superman costumes. There would be no fun and games for Schor in the next 16 minutes of game action on this afternoon, however. Instead, he simply took the game over. Domination in the paint on both sides of the court took Waterbury to the brink. 16 unanswered points to start the third period buried Waterbury as they were completely gassed 4 minutes into the third period. The key sequence in the run featured a David Rudomin steal which led to a nice feed from Junior Ori Guttman to Schor at the rim. On the very next possession, Rudomin forced a turnover at the half-court line pushing the lead to 37-19. Waterbury thought they had finally stemmed the tide when another first-year guard was inserted into the Bulldog lineup. All Steve Levine did was use his first 30 seconds in a Yavneh uniform to swipe a basketball at one end of the court and deposit it into the opposite goal a mere six strides later off a back pass from Schultz. The finishing blow came less than a minute later when Schor completed his heroic half with an open court steal that led to a sprint dribble dunk to shut out the lights for the state of Connecticut. Yavneh was able to coast to the finish, both playing and resting their entire 14-player roster in the final period. A full fledged foul-a-thon by the Yavneh bench led to a longer fourth quarter and a Waterbury free throw parade but mission accomplished to open the 2013-14 season. Schor led all scorers with a 14 point/10 rebound double-double. Kleinman chipped in 10 points of his own and conducting the orchestra from wire to wire calmly and collectively. Itai Guttman added 7 points to go along with his monster 14 rebound effort and Adam Steinbrecher recorded a very efficient 7 points as well.
Yavneh (1-0) has a 10:30am quarterfinal date to kick off November Friday morning with tournament #1 seed and defending champion Chicagoland Jewish High School. While Chicagoland may sound like an amusement park, they actually missed the overall #1 Jewish Hoops America national ranking last season by only a single vote. The teams have never met before but this one has all the makings of an instant rivalry. While CJHS has been considered the hottest team in the land over the last year, it should be noted that the boys from Dallas have actually won a higher % over that time: 26 of their last 29 basketball games overall. Both teams are hungry to qualify for the Final 4 in a tournament that will set the tone for one of these two hopeful squads. The Bulldogs will have an excellent chance to take over the #1 path in this tournament if they can continue to get the across the board contributions while cutting their turnovers in half, limiting the high offensive rebound number of their opponent, and just maybe unleashing their SECRET weapon that rhymes with GARNETT but has a “K” as in kangaroo at the beginning. Will Yavneh get the signature win that they came to Memphis for?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL!!!!!!!!!
The Kennel Report, now entering its tenth season, has been written by…
Zack Pollack M&M
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