On Wednesday night, June 29, four talented teams met to narrow the field down to the two that would compete for bragging rights as the champions of the 1st season of MGBL Men’s league basketball.
The first game featured Tree Point Play vs. The Yavneh Academy team. When these teams met in the regular season, Tree Point Play walked away the 48-39 victors. The defeat was only Yavneh’s second of the season and Yavneh entered the gym determined not to have a repeat performance. Less than a minute into the game, Tree Point Play suffered a serious blow when Elie Konigsberg felt a pull in his Achilles. Taking advantage of the gap in the Tree Point Play defense, Yavneh attacked the basket every time up the floor, led by Jeremy Greenblum (game high 26 pts.) and Moshe Kelsen (16 pts.). Despite being undermanned, Tree Point Play would not make it easy for Yavneh. Yechiel Engel dropped 20 points of his own and Zvi Pearlman was all over the court, chasing down every loose ball. In the end it wasn’t enough as Team Yavneh Academy walked away with a 59-42 win and a chance to play again for the championship.
The Semi Finals nightcap showcased the undefeated Heichal HaTorah team vs. Team Camp Shalom Blue. These two teams met up in the final game of the regular season with Heichal HaTorah the 53-35 winners. The first half was closely contested with Heichal taking a 20-17 lead into the half. The second half was all Heichal HaTorah, Jacob Dickstein poured in 21 points and Camp Shalom Blue was only able to net 12 points in the second half. Heichal HaTorah ended the game up 45-29 and advanced to play Yavneh Academy the next day for the championship.
The Championship game pitted the top two teams from the regular season against each other and was destined to be an epic showdown. Heichal HaTorah took the early lead but Yavneh Academy battled right back to tie the game at 24 with two minutes to play in the first half. Heichal HaTorah pulled away in the second half, largely due to the lights-out shooting of Zez Abboudi (23 points) and Dovid Katz (16 points). When the dust cleared team Heichal Hatorah were the champions of the Inaugural season of MGBL Men’s league with a final score of 61-51.
Please stay tuned for more information about the next season of the Men’s league. Registration for the girl’s session is now open on the MGBL site, MGBL.org. To sponsor a team or division (a great way to promote your business/organization or just help support a great league) email [email protected].
Special thanks to photographers Aliza Yager, Adina Pearlman, Arielle Mandel for taking the pictures on this page.
