(Yeshivat Noam Sports) Like most teams in the Yeshiva League, the Yeshivat Noam Knights basketball team has had to deal with its fair share of players being unavailable as a result of Covid protocol. When the Knights faced off against the Ramaz Rams on January 6, Coach Steve Gutlove only had nine players. In the pregame huddle, Coach Gutlove told the team, “Good teams win games, but great teams win games when they are short handed. Let’s go out there and prove that we are a great team.”
The Knights answered the call by playing stellar defense, with Charlie Furer, Sammy Haberman and Jacob Gervis forcing many turnovers. Ramaz’s Jared Miller was on fire with 15 points, but Noam’s Isaac Stepner took over the game enroute to his game high 18 points (including a step-back three, two steps in front of the Noam logo).
Yeshivat Noam was back in action the following Tuesday night at ASHAR, still missing players, and those who were available stepped it up. Lock down defense from Ori Schloss and Ozzi Fink combined with balanced scoring from Tani Strulowitz, Jared Glick, Benzion Kryzman and Yehuda Noble (each scoring between six and eight points) carried the Knights to their fourth win of the season.
Back in action two days later, the Knights hosted a very talented Moriah team in a rematch of opening night. In a game that has been dubbed “the Elbaz game.’ Mordechai Elbaz, just eligible to return from Covid, made up for lost time. Elbaz started the game by banking two threes, scoring the first eight points of the game and finished with a game high 13 points. The Knights took a commanding 36- 18 lead into the half and despite tremendous shooting from Moriah’s Nathan Wild and Amiel Ottensoser, the Knights finished the game strong. Shout out to Judah Suss for a perfect 3-0 record as assistant coach of the Noam Knights.
The Knights enter the break in first place, but have a very difficult schedule ahead of them. Coach Gutlove hopes the break will give them a chance to get healthy and stay healthy for the much anticipated matchup with RYNJ on February 1.
