On Saturday night, November 9, the JEC Thunder met the Kushner Cobras in the season opener for the Thunder. Kushner had played Ramaz twice and took TABC to overtime to carry an 0-3 record and was looking for its first YL win. JEC in preseason play was 2-1, and had yet to play a Yeshiva League game.

The scene was ripe for excitement. A neighborhood rivalry with both teams vying for playoff positioning in the Yeshiva League West, early in the season.

The Cobras were primed for this game, They opened a 13-8 lead at the end of the first period. JEC was experiencing too many turnovers, which cut down scoring opportunities and allowed the Cobras to control the action. Things were looking bleak for the Thunder, but they held on in the second period, to slightly narrow the lead to 22-18 at the half.

At the half, the Thunder made several defensive and offensive adjustments resulting in an 11-0 run out of the locker room, and held Kushner to six points in the period. Highlighted by two treys by senior captain Hillel Glick, and a trey and a basket by senior Aaron Silver, JEC reversed things and led 31-28 at the end of the third.

In the finale, JEC and Kushner played it even. With 2:11 to play, the score was JEC 38-Kushner 36, when JEC’s Josh Krause scored his only basket on a floater from the right side, off a feed from Silver, to bring JEC’s tally to 40. At that point, he Cobras had to foul and junior PG Dani Hess hit the second foul to edge ahead by three. Kushner could not get the 3 they needed to get the game to overtime, so the final score remained JEC 41-Kushner 38.

JEC is now 3-1 overall, 1-0 Yeshiva League.

High scorers for JEC were Ethan Thurm (13points, 11 rebs) and Hillel Glick (coming off an ankle injury) 13 points. For Kushner, Josh Shapiro contributed 12 points.

By Yeshiva League Pass