Last Thursday, an evening when SAR was celebrating their annual “Sting Night,” those very Sting players defeated the JEC Thunder by a final score of 60-29. SAR certainly benefited from the raucous students and faculty in attendance, as they were a step or two ahead of the Thunder all night.
From the tip, the Sting exploded, going on an 11-0 run to start the contest. During this stretch, the Thunder were unable to penetrate the paint as SAR dared JEC to beat them from outside; the Thunder only attempted 3-pointers, missing numerous open attempts to get on the scoreboard. At the end of the first quarter, JEC had five points, which was indicative of how the rest of the night was going to go.
Unfortunately for the Thunder, the second quarter went just like the first: The Sting went on a lengthy run, dejecting JEC, and fueling the euphoric crowd. Jake Glick was everywhere for the Sting, racking up fuve steals, including a couple in period number two. He also completed several highlight reel drives to the hoop against much taller defenders, finishing in style each time.
Throughout the game, the story was the SAR defense. They were a force, denying JEC the ability to cleanly perform the sets they attempted to run. For many third quarter possessions, the Thunder needed quick transition buckets to preserve the clock and have any hopes of coming back. However, SAR generally made JEC work for their points.
Once the fourth quarter rolled around, everyone in The Hive knew this one was over. The benches began to empty at the seven minute mark. The Thunder scored some late buckets to yield a final score of 60-29 when the final buzzer hit, though the sound of the horn was faint as the Sting crowd was going absolutely bananas, counting down the end of this statement win for SAR in their playoff push.
With the win, SAR now holds a crucial tiebreaker over JEC. This may end up being their ticket to the playoffs as the two teams make a bid for the three available Western Conference playoff spots between themselves, Heschel, Ohr Yisroel and Hillel.
