This past week, Tree Point Play defeated team MGBL 64-52 in the high school championship game. It was an exciting game with multiple lead changes, surges by both teams and close throughout. Tree Point Play received balanced scoring throughout and was led by Daniel Aaron and Ariel Rivkin, while MGBL was led by Eitan Pfeiffer and Shmuli Coates. The first half was close and was tied at 20 with five minutes remaining. MGBL went on a mini-run and was up 29-22 on a great pass from Pacey Jacoby to Tani Engel, but Tree Point fought back and the half ended with MGBL up one with the score 29-28. Pfeiffer had 17 points in half, Coates had eight, Tani Engel and Ariel Tzur each added two. For Tree Point, Aaron had nine, Yonatan Naor had five (eight for game), Sammy Nat had four (six for game), Rivkin had four, and two each from Eitan Dukas (11 for game), Yonah Hook (four for game) and Shmuel Yablok.

In the second half, Tree Point came out hot with baskets from Nat, Aaron and Nate Cukor to take a seven point lead. MGBL fought back with Pfeiffer and Coates scoring to keep game close. A Dukas 3-pointer extended the lead to eight, but once again MGBL fought and multiple 3-pointers from Pfeiffer and Coates helped cut lead to one at 45-44. Three straight points from Naor put the lead at four and MGBL countered with baskets from Jacoby and Pfeiffer to tie the game at 48 with eight minutes left to play. The teams again traded baskets by Hook and Coates and then Rivkin (12 for game) and Pfeiffer, tying the game once more time with just over four minutes to play at 52. That was when Aaron hit a big 3-pointer to give Tree Point the lead for good. Aaron (team high 17 points and game MVP), Rivkin (12 for game) and Dukas added to the lead that despite the great effort from Pfeiffer (game high 28 points), the MGBL team could not overcome. It was a great game to cap a great season. Congrats to both teams.

As the season comes to an end, the Mitch Gross Basketball League would like to thank all of the family members and fans for cheering the boys and girls on this season, our sponsors for helping to make this possible, the coaches (and their spouses) for volunteering their time and of course the kids for playing their hearts out. MGBL is celebrating it’s 10th season in the fall and look forward to another great year. Girls registration is now open at www.mgbl.org.