The First Annual American Friends of Sderot 8th Grade Yeshiva Day School Boys Basketball Tournament got underway this past week. Sixteen yeshiva day schools from the New York—New Jersey area, divided into four regions, are participating in this unique fundraising event. During the month of November each participating team will play two rounds at gyms throughout their region. The goals of the tournament, presented at half time at each venue by Judah Rhine, director of AFS and the tournament, are to raise awareness about Sderot, raise funds for Sderot and play competitive basketball with other 8th grade yeshiva day schools.
The first round of the tournament started on Tuesday, November 1, with Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn traveling to Hillel Yeshiva in Deal. MDY controlled the tempo for most of the game. Hillel made a furious comeback by draining many three pointers but, in the end, MDY held on for a 51-39 victory. Leading scorer for MDY was Elliot Dweck with 19 points, and leading the way for Hillel was Morris Menaged with 13 points.
Game two was the opening game of a double header at SAR Academy in Riverdale that featured YCQ vs. SAR on Thursday, November 3. SAR was in control throughout the game and cruised to a 51-20 victory. Eli Neuwirth led SAR with 13 points and Elad Binyamini led YCQ with 6 points.
Game three was the second game of the double header in SAR and featured Yeshiva Derech HaTorah vs. Yeshiva Har Torah. This was a tight contest with YDH holding on for a 52-42 victory. Shlomie Katash led YDH with 12 points and Jacob Ellman led YHT with 27 points.
Game four of the tournament was the first game of a double header by ASHAR in New City on Sunday, November 6, and featured Manhattan Day School vs. ASHAR. MDS build a 20 point lead over ASHAR in the first half. In the third quarter, ASHAR started making three point shots from all over the court and closed the gap to within two until MDS held on for a 58-53 victory. Shalom Hazan led MDS with 34 points and Yosef Zakon led ASHAR with 19 points.
Game five of the tournament was the second game of the double header at ASHAR that featured JEC vs. Westchester Day School. JEC was in control of the game throughout until WDS made a run. JEC prevailed with a 57-37 win. Leading scorers for JEC were Ikey Rozazedeh and Elazar Milstein with 15 points each. Sam Weinberger led WDS with 13 points.
Game six of the tournament was the first game of the double header played at North Shore Hebrew Academy in Great Neck featuring HAFTR vs. HANC. HAFTR pulled out to an early lead and HANC kept closing the deficit but in the end HAFTR secured the 52-39 victory. Leading scorer for HANC was Moshe Kaheni with 28 points. Leading scorer for HAFTR was Jamie Berger with 27 points.
Game seven of the tournament was the nightcap featuring Hebrew Academy of Long Beach against North Shore Hebrew Academy. The game started off very tight with North Shore holding a one point leader after one quarter. North Shore then took over and cruised to a 61-31 triumph. Leading the way for HALB was Jojo Vilensky with 16 points. Steven Levian led North Shore with 21 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.
