As the cases of Corona continue to rise, yeshiva league basketball action continues to diminish. These circumstances are definity unfortunate, but it leads to a greater appreciation of the games that do not get postponed. This past week there were only three games played league-wide, but the constant action kept the entire league intrigued.
Coming into Wednesday night’s showcase, the Magen Abraham Kings were on a tear, winning their past two games against higher seeded teams in HAFTR and North Shore, but were in for a challenge while visiting the Kushner Cobras. The Cobras were coming off a gut wrenching defeat against the Frisch Cougars, a game in which the Cobras displayed skill, but were simply outmatched by the Cougars. Senior leaders Ben Huppert and Mitch Liebov were determined to get back in the win column against the Kings and were relentless on the court. On the offensive end, the Cobras were a sight to witness with Huppert and Liebov combining for 39 of the Cobras 59 points. Defensively, the Cobras as an entity were successful in preventing offensive opportunities from Albert Swaid and Aaron Levy, both of whom are overly capable scorers on a consistent basis. This game exceeded the anticipated hype, but the following games of the week provided equal excitement.
On Thursday evening, the YDE Thunder hosted the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded DRS Wildcats. The Thunder came into the game in high spirits after knocking off previous top seed, the Flatbush Falcons, a week earlier. The Wildcats came into the game with the knowledge that their focus on the defensive end needed to be containing YDE’s Isaac Tawil. As mentioned last week, Tawil has been a man on a mission offensively this season putting up two games with over 40 points so far, including a 56 point showing against Rambam earlier this month. Unfortunately for the Thunder, DRS understood the assignment and were successful in preventing Tawil from having another hot night. On the offensive end for the Wildcats they displayed their consistently unselfish style of play, which in the past has had numerous players score in double figures, but against the Thunder it was Isaac Solomon and Ari Ivry leading the way with18 and 16 points respectively.
The final matchup of the week featured the TABC Storm visiting a promising Ohr Yisrael team. Ohr Yiroel was coming off their first win in school history on the road against Rambam, but this time with the home court advantage they looked to hopefully steal a victory against the red hot TABC Storm. The Storm had other plans and were successful in turning their three game winning streak into four. On the bright side for Ohr Yisrael, they displayed their potential with two players scoring in double figures, Moshe Alexander with 15 and Charlie Maryles with a game high 24. In the end, the Storm, led by Yis Kaminetsky’s 16 points, were too much to handle and TABC escaped with the two point victory.
As another exciting week of Yeshiva League basketball comes to an end, we can’t wait to see what will be in store as the season continues. Make sure to check this section weekly for all updates and the latest news from around the Yeshiva League. Also make sure to check out Yeshiva League Pass on Instagram and their website for nightly updates on varsity basketball and hockey.
Calling future journalists! Please contact me at [email protected] if you would like to contribute to this column by providing stories and updates from any high school athletic teams.
Ikey Gutlove is the Jewish Link Sports Intern.
