Wednesday night, December 12, was a historic night for the TABC basketball program. Last year’s JV team was honored with a pre-game ceremony and banner raising to honor their championship run. Athletic Director Rav Yitz Rabovsky spoke briefly about how winning a championship requires a lot more than just talent and a few good players. Dedicated coaches, committed parents and a supportive school faculty, all share in this championship. Once the banner was hung it was time to actually play ball as Frisch was in town for a big doubleheader.
The JV game was a highly anticipated matchup for two very strong teams. Frisch came into the game undefeated while TABC was coming off a very tough loss to the SAR Sting just a few nights prior. WIth a packed gym of TABC fans, the Storm came out of the gate very strong as their defense led to many fast break points giving them a sizeable first quarter lead. Zevy Samet was unstoppable in the open court and proved to be the difference-maker all game long. He finished the game with 32 points!! But this wasn’t a one man show at all as the Storm got huge plays from their big men Ezra Baron and Avery Stepner, who locked down the paint all night and controlled the glass. TABC’s intensity on defense and ball movement on offense proved to be too much as TABC pulled away even more in the second half and ended the night with a resounding victory.
The varsity game had a playoff feel to it and the standing room only crowd was ready from the opening tip. After a slow start for both teams, TABC managed a small lead towards the end of the second quarter. TABC’s famous man to man defense was giving Frisch trouble but the Cougars held strong as they hit multiple tough shots to stay even with the Storm. As the second half began, the Storm looked to have an extra step as they started getting to the rim as their lead grew to seven. Avi Proctor and Jonathan Haberman were excellent all game while Alex Ostrin was a force around the rim on both sides of the court. TABC’s guards were able to keep Frisch’s super fast guard Max Zakheim out of the paint most of the night, not an easy thing to do. TABC won by the final score of 57-47 and capped of an awesome night of basketball with a strong statement win against a very good team.
The following night, parents, faculty and students joined together for the championship banner raising last year’s JV hockey team. Following the banner reveal, the crowd enjoyed a great barbecue and another exciting double-header match up against Frisch—this time for hockey. The JV team had a resounding victory with a final score of 5-1. Varsity was a very tough match up with both teams going goal for goal, with Frisch scoring the final winning goal. Great effort by all!
