On Tuesday May 22nd, the SAR team accomplished something no other team had been able to do, beat Moriah. Coming into the game having been undefeated throughout the year, Moriah was a heavy favorite to win the game. While the two teams had a very close game during the regular season, most people assumed it was a fluke and Moriah’s height advantage would prove to be too much for SAR to overcome.

In the early going, those people looked to be correct. Moriah was out-rebounding SAR by a large margin and playing suffocating defense on the SAR team with a unique 3-1 and 1 defense. With SAR’s point guard Judah Oppenheimer being double teamed, the SAR offense sputtered as Moriah raced out to an 11 point advantage in the second quarter. While the offense was slow early, the whole team played an excellent defensive game throughout which kept them in the game, ultimately only trailing by 7 at halftime.

While most teams would’ve panicked, the Sting did not. Having been in a similar situation during the semi-finals (where they trailed RYNJ by 6 points at half), SAR took halftime to regroup and came out firing in the second half. Led by number of outside shots from Nat Waxman and Drew Greenbaum, the deficit was cut to one heading into the fourth. With the momentum on their side, the sting took advantage of what the defense gave them and through great ball movement, team rebounding, and defense they pulled away in the closing minutes of the game. With a few free throws, SAR went on defeat Moriah by the score 41-34. It was great season for both teams, as well as for the league as a whole! Looking forward to next year!

Coach Dani Weinberger