By Judah Rhine
DRS 62, Flatbush 36. DRS once again played great defense, holding Flatbush to 12 first-half points and taking a 27—12 halftime lead. Gabe Leifer had the game high with 22, and Yoav Deutsch added 19 for the Wildcats, which are now 7—0 in Yeshiva League play and 15—0 overall.
Rambam wins again. Rambam Mesivta defeated HANC in overtime, 45—40. Jacob Dubin scored 18 points to lead Rambam to the victory.
JV Recap. The HANC Hurricanes defeated the Rambam Ravens 54—23 in a coast-to-coast victory on Sunday, November 22. Michael Tsor led the Hurricanes with 21 points and Nati Shitrit played his usual lockdown defense, preventing Rambam from ever getting into their rhythm. The Hurricanes have been up and down this season but are starting to look more and more dangerous as the season moves along.
DRS JV Recap. DRS played Ezra last week and beat them by a wide margin. It was a complete team effort and everyone got involved in the scoring. Sunday night, DRS played Flatbush, which had beaten DRS badly last year, but this year DRS got to it right from the start and never trailed. The DRS bench extended the lead and DRS won the game by 30. Great performances from Gideon Vilenski and Eli Roz. Great play by the guys off the bench Ephraim Azman and Eli Mandel as well. At 4—0, they hope to keep on rolling.
Touro Update
Touro NYSCAS took the floor against Mt. St. Vincent College at their beautiful facility in Riverdale on Sunday the 22nd. Mt. St. Vincent quickly put on a 3-point clinic, making shots from all over the floor. Coaches Furman and Bader took their team out of a zone and played a man-to-man the rest of the way. The score was even for most of the game until Mt. St. Vincent pulled away to a 14-point lead late in the second half. Touro put on a full-court press and cut the lead to 4 points with 3 minutes to go. “We had to foul and hope they missed at the line,” said Coach Bader. Mt. St. Vincent did not miss at the line and pulled away to win by 12. Touro had a very bad shooting game and even worse at the free-throw line.
“I can’t put the ball in the basket for them, only get them good looks out of our sets,” said Coach Bader. Next game is against City College, a high-level D3 team with lots of talent.
Girls’ Varsity Basketball
HANC 39, Heschel 29. The HANC Hurricanes were a little sluggish coming off of the long bus ride into Manhattan. With the team trailing 6—0 early, Lauren Gerafi finally put the Hurricanes on the board midway through the first quarter. A back-and-forth battle ensued, with HANC leading at halftime by 1 point. An intense defense and a productive offense propelled the Hurricanes to a 10-point lead as they outscored the Heat 13—4 in the third quarter, and they maintained the lead for the rest of the game, for their first league win of the year. Rachel Fellus led HANC with 16 points while Amanda Ritholtz and Naomi Liviem each scored 8 points. Talia Abed (10 points) and Julia Benichou (9 points) led Heschel.
Flatbush Varsity Wins
2nd Emunah Championship
The newest varsity basketball tournament of Jewish high-school teams in the NY/NJ metro area is the Rabbi Jacob and Deborah Rubenstein Memorial Varsity Basketball Tournament (Rubenstein/Emunah). The second annual tournament, held this year on Sunday evening, November 22 at SAR in Riverdale, consisted of a field of four teams: MTA Lions (Manhattan), JEC/RTMA Thunder (Elizabeth), Flatbush Falcons (Brooklyn), and TABC Storm (Teaneck).
The goal of this varsity tournament is threefold: First, to provide a positive forum for kids to honor the memory of Rabbi Jacob and Deborah Rubenstein, who perished in a Friday-night fire. Next, to adopt a tzedakah project that meant so much to the Rubensteins. And third, and most importantly, for the participating schools’ athletes and staff to take a leadership role in participating in a meaningful tzedakah project.
At the request of the Rubenstein children, the funds raised through this memorial tournament will be contributed to a unique program at Beit Elazraki, an Emunah children’s home in Netanya, Israel. This program provides each child with the individual services they need for one year, be it tutorial, psychological counseling, animal therapy, shiatsu, or myriad other therapies. These special therapies have proven to make a tremendous difference to the 220 children at Beit Elazraki.
“The boys did it!”–So reported head coach Michael Gurock after his Flatbush Falcons varsity squad defeated the TABC Storm by a score of 54—47 to win the Rubenstein/Emunah tournament.
Playing with a depleted squad, with co-captain Elliot Beyda in Israel and senior center David Dayan under the weather, the varsity Falcons came back from a double-digit first-half deficit for the third time in their last four games, to claim the tournament championship and avenge a preseason loss to the Storm.
TABC held a 12-point lead early on, built on out-hustling the Falcons for loose balls and controlling the offensive glass for several easy put-backs. The Falcons defense managed to trim the deficit to 10, for a score of 32—22 at the half.
The second half was a completely different story. Behind inspired play from the backcourt, and due in no small part to the defensive adjustments put in place by Coach Gus Kennedy, Flatbush righted the ship. With Coach Gurock stressing the importance of improved rebounding as a key to success, the Falcons were much more active on the boards, with Abie Rosow and Albert Richter stepping up and shutting off the inside from TABC. As a result, the vaunted Flatbush defense gave up only 11 points in the third quarter. They got even stingier in the final period, yielding a paltry 4 points. Kevin Haddad was the beneficiary of a much more disciplined offensive approach, hitting for 16 points in the half, and was complemented by 6 more from Jackie Mishaan, as Flatbush outscored TABC by 17 points in the second half.
Pan-Am Maccabi Games
The U.S. Under-18 Maccabi basketball team is scheduled to travel to Santiago, Chile, for the Pan-American Maccabi games, December 26—January 4. The team is basically an all-star team from the Yeshiva League with a few very good outsiders joining in. Practice will be taking place in New York City for four days (December 22—25) before the players depart on the 26th. This is a tremendous honor for Coach Evan Pickman as well as the kids. “There were four practices and a scrimmage game in early June, and I believe we will represent the U.S. Maccabi Basketball family well,” Pickman said. The team members are Gabriel Leifer (DRS), Abe Perlow (HAFTR), Sammy Merkin (Ramaz alum), Tai Gerszberg (TABC), Rafi Kubersky (SAR), Jack Chehebar (Magen David alum), Jeremy Spiera (Heschel), Michael Gatan (Heschel), Ben Rabinowitz (Ramaz), Zack Jacobs (Westchester public schools), Danny Rosche (Trevor Day H.S. in NYC), and Daniel Tzion (Yula H.S., California, alum).
Flatbush Girls Open Season With Win
Two months is a long time to prepare for a first game, and the 7th—8th-grade Flatbush girls came out both energized and anxious in getting the 2015—16 season under way. They pulled away late to secure the team’s first win on opening night, 32—22, in the Elementary School gym in Brooklyn.
Stephanie Mugrabi took Marcy Ashear’s opening tip right to the basket to give the Falcons an early 2—0 lead. And though they would never trail the rest of the night, it would not be an easy path to victory. Though dominating play at both ends of the court, Flatbush found it difficult to finish plays on offense throughout the entire first half, scoring only 10 points in that time. As tough as it was for the Falcons to put the ball in the basket, they more than made up for it on the defensive side.
Full-court pressure by Lorraine Levy, with the support of Nicole Gani and Danielle Gani, made sure that Brandeis would have to fight for every shot opportunity. Alyssa Garbulsky and Marcy Ashear were dominant on the boards, and with Hannah Falack, Sarah Cheney, and Lauren Chalouh blocking shots, it was difficult for Brandeis to get any looks or shots inside the paint.
The second half saw the Falcons finally find their shooting touch, sparked by the play of Ruthy Dweck and Simone Dweck off the bench. Flatbush was able to push the lead to 10 in the third quarter, and never looked back. The team began to gel, and the girls took advantage of their opportunity to show what they can do, and send a message to the MJDSBL that Flatbush will be the team to fear this year!
Flatbush JVs even their record; varsity cruises as Falcons sweep at Central. After stumbling out of the gate, the JV girls’ basketball team has found themselves on a two-game winning streak after defeating the Central Wildcats in dominating fashion, 45—23, on November 18. That game was followed by an equally strong performance by the varsity girls, who ran their division-leading record to 4—0 with a 53—33 win.
The JV Falcons sprinted out to an 18—0 lead. Freshman Kayla Motovich finally found the offensive groove she displayed as a 7th- and 8th-grader, leading all scorers with 19 points for the night. She also was a spark on defense, where her 11 steals were turned into many Falcon fast-break points. By the half, the team had built a commanding 30—6 lead.
It was a complete team effort, though, with everyone on the roster contributing at both the defensive and offensive ends of the court, and helping the team reach the .500 mark for the first time this season.
The varsity took the tone set by the JVs and ran with it, taking control of the contest from the opening tip, and maintaining control throughout the opening period, which staked the Falcons to an 11—2 lead at the first-period break. But the Wildcats showed resilience, playing with a determination to stay close to the speedy Falcons. They trailed Flatbush 28—14 at the half, but had cut the lead to 8 points midway through the third quarter.
The Falcons reengaged the Wildcats with their signature full-court pressure, and Central could not respond. With stellar play from floor general Victoria Gindi, Flatbush again took control of the tempo of the game and cruised to the 20-point win, 53—33.
Judah Rhine, who has been coaching youth basketball for more than 35 years, is co-director of MVP Boys Basketball Camp and MVP Girls Basketball Camp and co‑commissioner of the National Council of Young Israel basketball league. He can be reached at mvp4boys@gmail.com or mvp4girls@gmail.com.