On Monday night, December 17, the Heschel Heat came to JEC in a game the Heat must have perceived as a “gimme.” After all, Heschel had beaten JEC in November at home, on its homecoming night, by 24 points.
What the Heat did not count on was that JEC had worked assiduously for the second half of the season and this game. The starting lineup was changed. The offense was re-imagined to add constant motion. The defense was redesigned to exert maximum trapping pressure and the generally smaller size of the Thunder players was made up for with physical play, fundamental box out drills and a new technique for snaring rebounds.
The Heat opened the contest with consecutive treys and Heschel had a fast and potentially demoralizing 6-0 lead.
JEC’s Moshe Heller tallied a trey of his own at the 6:30 mark, and scored on a foul shot to make the score 6-4 Heschel. That effort was followed by a 3 pointer from senior PF Shalom Ringer and the score was swiftly 7-6 JEC.
JEC got some momentum going, and by halftime JEC was ahead 34-29.
An exciting third quarter ended with JEC having expanded its lead to 43-36.
The fourth period saw Moshe Heller controlling the tempo of the game. However, the Heat was able to narrow the gap to 43-40 with 2:27 to play.
With 1:23 to play, Heschel’s star guard picked up his fifth foul and had to leave the game, sending Aharon Heller to the line. He hit both and the JEC lead bulged to 47-40.
Heschel then hit a long three to narrow the gap to 47-43 with 1:01 left in the game.
Moshe Heller was fouled and hit one foul shot for a 48-43 lead. Another three from Heschel, and with :53.9 to play, JEC’s lead was 48-46.
Moshe Heller was fouled again, and he walked to the line and hit both shots for a 50-46 JEC lead.
JEC then fouled Heschel and the JEC lead shrunk to 50-48, with:30.8 left in the game. Again, Heschel had to foul, and this time Matthews was fouled. He hit one out of his two, and JEC was ahead 51-48.
Heschel had the ball, but it was stolen by Goldberg, who got it to Moshe Heller. He was fouled with:17.4 to play and hit one shot, to make it 52-48.
Heschel quickly scored and the score was 52-50 JEC with:8.6 to play
Heschel had to foul, and again Matthews was fouled. He netted both of his free throws and built an insurmountable 54-50 JEC lead, which was the final score.
