On Tuesday, December 21 the RYNJ Jaguars headed to Riverdale to face the SAR Sting. This same Sting team bounced the Jaguars from the playoffs two years in a row and the two teams played a classic double overtime game last year. There was electricity in the air before the opening tip.

In the early minutes of the game RYNJ started out rusty, this could be because they arrived at the gym mere minutes before the game, or since their last game was almost a month prior. After a couple of sloppy passes, the Jaguars found themselves in a 10-0 hole, and headed to the locker room at the half down 28-15.

The Jaguars were not ready to give up. After a motivational halftime speech they started to claw away at the lead that had seemed so large when they headed off the court. The third quarter was back and forth with both teams trading baskets and fouls (over 50 fouls were called in the game).

Going into the final quarter the RYNJ squad was ready to step it up, and they did just that. They smothered the Sting with a full court press, forcing many turnovers and trimming SAR’s lead to two points with under two minutes to play. Yonah Hook stole the ball off the inbounds, converting it into a layup, tying the game at 42. With a minute left, Ohrel Bolour sunk a game clinching free throw and put the game into the books. The final score was 42-43 in favor of RYNJ.

After the game Coach Gutlove told the team “Your defense was tremendous and is the main reason we came back.” The Jaguars were led by Yonah Hook’s tenacious defense and Ohrel Bolour domination of the glass. On offense, the great passing of Yonatan Kaye dished out many terrific assists to leading scorers Ikey Gutlove and Shmuli Coates, with 8 points each. SAR played a great team game, but was unable to achieve victory.

What a great game by both teams!

If you missed the game, SAR posted it on youtube, https://youtu.be/lVD-xd6AUZY.

By Ikey Gutlove