Anyone who followed Bergen Coun­ty Yeshiva League Basketball this sea­son knows that the Frisch Cougars and the TABC Storm varsity teams had great battles between them, leading up to the Saracheck Tournament. In that tourna­ment, both teams excelled, with Frisch advancing to the championship and pushing the YULA Panthers (who had dispatched the Storm) within one quar­ter of taking it all.

Of course, the Yeshiva League sea­son and that tournament were limited to Yeshiva Day School Teams. What would happen if the Cougars and the Storm went up against other private school varsity teams? Could they compete? And what if, just for fun, players from both teams combined —and added a JV play­er—to take on teams outside the Yeshiva League? How would they fare?

Over the last nine weeks, this ex­periment played out in gyms through­out Bergen County. Team ELLKAY, this year comprised of varsity starters Justin Hod (Frisch), Yehoshua Zirman (TABC), Eli Scharlat (Frisch), and Tyler Hod (Frisch), TABC Varsity big man Jared Breen, Frisch seniors Tal Platt and Raime Stein, along with Frisch JV guard Mayer Scharlat (and a cameo appearance by Hillel Fuld) took on all comers in the Wayne, New Jersey-based IYB High School League.

Following up on last year’s run to the IYB championship that saw this team (which also then had Binyamin Zirman (TABC) and a lot more Fuld (MTA)) drop a heart-breaker to Suffern High School in the 2013 Final, the ELLKAY boys ran through the 2014 regular season—in­cluding avenging the loss the Suffern— with hardly a blink, going 7-1 (their only loss being a forfeit because of a conflict with Shavuot).

Earning a bye into the semi-final, ELL­KAY was matched against Hawthorne Christian Academy (HCA), the New Jer­sey Private School champions. Standing between ELLKAY and the championship game were two big men, both dunking with ease in warm ups. One of those big men turned out to be 6’8” Division 1 re­cruit Alex Thomas, who is reported to have offers from the likes of Fairleigh Dickinson, Rider, and New Hampshire, among others.

Thomas led HCA to a quick 8-0 lead before ELLKAY knew what hit them. Undaunted, Zirman drained a three and then Zirman, Tyler Hod, and May­er Scharlat found each other for layups and just like that ELLKAY lead 9-8. As the teams pounded on each other in the first half for early dominance, Eli Scharlat caught Thomas’ knee in his hip and went down for the rest of the game with a hip pointer. Two 3-balls by Mayer Scharlat and another by Tyler Hod paced ELLKAY from the outside. A man down and out­sized, ELLKAY nevertheless hung tough, trailing only 30-26 at the half.

Zirman and Thomas went head to head in the second half like warriors. Giv­ing away three inches and thirty pounds to Thomas, Big Z wore the larger man down with a variety of slashing and driv­ing moves that kept Thomas on his heels. Justin Hod, ELLKAY’s leading scorer, caught fire in the second half and back and forth the score seesawed, until sev­en seconds in regulation. Then, off some good ball movement on the heels of two rebounds, Tyler Hod drilled a long jump­er to force overtime.

The first three-minute overtime looked like it would be the last as HCA was up by three as the ball squirted free on the ELLKAY’s last possession. But, showing the hustle and determination which made him a top five player in Jew­ish Hoops America, Zirman dove on the floor for a loose ball and in one motion dribbled as he stood and sank a long three to tie the game at the buzzer.

Three more overtimes saw the teams rock each other like tired heavyweights until Tyler Hod and Zirman executed a perfect pick and roll to tie the game at 71-71 at the end of the fourth overtime.

The fifth extra period left both teams dragging to the finish line, with Thom­as plowing through Zirman on what looked to all like a clear charge to seal the game, 75-73. Though short two points this time after a Justin Hod des­peration three ball just rimmed out, the Bergen County boys left no doubt about their ability to play against top competi­tion in the area. Zirman tallied 33 points, along with 22 rebounds, giving Thom­as, a one-man show who had 44 points, all he could handle on both ends of the court. Tyler Hod added 15 points, Justin Hod 13, and Mayer Scharlat closed the scoring for ELLKAY with 12.

ELLKAY next plays in the Ramapo College Team Camp, which pits 22 of the best High School teams in the area against each other in eight games played over four days from June 22-25, 2014.