This past weekend, Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles hosted 15 basketball teams from 10 different schools from around the country and even Israel. The tournament was held in honor of Steve Glouberman z”l, whose untimely passing deeply affected the Shalhevet community at large.
The Frisch Varsity Basketball team entered this tournament with very high expectations and with pressure to perform after being ranked #1 in the nation by Jewish Hoops America. The tournament setup was two games of pool play followed by a three-game road to be crowned victorious. The Cougars were placed in a pool with the MTA Lions and the Valley Torah Wolfpack, and played both teams on Thursday, the first day of the tournament. In their first game against MTA at Shalhevet, the Cougars were able to overcome their lack of offensive production by way of their stifling defense in a 40-26 win. The game was much closer than the score suggests, with MTA hanging around until the end.
In the Cougars’ second game of the day, they took on Valley Torah at an off-site location. Frisch got off to an exceptional start with the help of Jordan Kleinhaus who hit 4 three-pointers to give Frisch an early 15-0 lead. By the end of the first quarter, Frisch led 24-11. Over the course of the game, Valley Torah’s star guard Ryan Turell helped his team back into the game, ultimately closing the gap to one point with minutes left in the 4th quarter. Hanging on to a 61-60 lead, Frisch went on a small run that was good enough for a 70-65 win. Standing at 2-0, Frisch was ranked third for the elimination round behind the SAR Sting and the Shalhevet Firehawks.
On Friday, Frisch drew a rematch with Valley Torah at Shalhevet. The stage was not too big for the Cougars, however, as they rose to the challenge for a 57-48 win to advance to the Saturday night semifinals and a chance to play the winner of Shalhevet-MTA. MTA pulled off a thrilling fourth quarter win over the favored Firehawks, setting Frisch up for another rematch in the semifinal game.
Over Shabbat, the athletes were able to mingle and meet new basketball players from around the country. The Shalhevet families were kind enough to open up their homes for Friday night meals for each team, and then a tournament-wide oneg was held later that night. After shul on Saturday, the athletes all ate lunch together before being left for the afternoon to relax and hang out. An optional seudah shlishit was held for anyone who was interested at a Shalhevet family, and after a long, fun Shabbat, the games were ready to start up again.
Frisch and MTA battled back and forth before Frisch gashed the Lions for a big run to put them up by double digits. Nearing the end of the first half, MTA closed the gap a bit, clearly showing that they were not ready to cede their hopes of making it to the finals. Frisch opened up the third quarter strong, reestablishing their double-digit lead. However, in the fourth quarter, MTA played great defense and the Cougars could not build their lead any further. Instead, MTA slowly came back more and more, eventually setting themselves up with the ball down 42-40 with seconds to go. Luckily for the Cougars, MTA’s last second layup attempt rolled around the rim and fell out, setting them up for a Sunday championship game against SAR. The last time that this group of Cougars played against SAR was in March 2015, in a one-point championship win for Frisch.
Frisch and SAR battled back and forth for much of the first half. With a couple minutes to go, Frisch’s Yisroel Solomon went on a run by himself to give his team a 25-20 halftime lead. Frisch did not relinquish that lead for the rest of the game, despite a run by the Sting in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. The Cougars were led by Josh Dukas’ 17 points, Isaac Laifer was named First Team All-Tournament, and Sammy Fishman was named tournament MVP. To quote Shalhevet’s live stream announcer: “Frisch isn’t ranked #1 for nothing.”
By Mark Abramowitz
