Defending against the 2014-15 Frisch Cougars is like trying to put a glove on an octopus—no matter whom you cover, you are going to take fire from another three directions. In a display of the teamwork that has been the signature of this varsity squad, the Cougars dismantled a scrappy Magen David Warriors team with wicked ball movement and relentless defense. In doing so, the Cougars took their place as the only West Division representative in the Yeshiva League Final Four.
Out of the gate, junior F. Scott “The Shot” Levine smoked the MDY defense for a trio of first quarter 3-balls. Coupled with dominant board work and lock-down defense by senior Captain F Benni Tuchman, the Cougars raced out to a 21-11 lead.
The 2nd quarter saw senior Captain G Michael Finkel and junior G Andrew Langer lead the way with superior ball handling, crisp passing, and slashing layups. Senior Captain G Tyler Hod took it from there, adding a couple buckets and an “And-1.” The Cougars turned the screws on the press, and went into the locker room leading 39-24 at the half.
MDY would be heard from as the Warriors came out fighting to open the 2nd half, scoring 9 straight points to cut the Frisch lead to 39-33 midway through the 3rd. But, just when it looked like Frisch was stalling, Tuchman came up with a huge steal at half court and converted the layup to shift the momentum back to the Cougars. Closing the quarter, junior PG Noah Schechter threw in a buzzer beater layup to preserve the Frisch lead at 51-37 heading down the stretch.
With MDY still bringing the heat in the final stanza, junior G Mayer Scharlat and junior F Noah Englemayer joined the party, each dropping 7 points in the quarter, and senior C Andrew Levine sank two nifty buckets to close the door and send MDY back to Brooklyn.
Shooting 49% from the field and 40% from behind the arc, the Cougars were led by Scott Levine with 12 points (4 threes). Tuchman (8 rebounds) and Finkel added 11 points each. Scharlat netted 9 nine points, Hod and Langer each dropped in 8 points, Andrew Levine chipped in with 4 points and Schechter closed out the scoring with his bucket. As is so typical of this squad, even without scoring, seniors Robby Bernstein, Sam Finkel, Jesse Arbisfeld, and Kevin Ebrahimoff, along with juniors Zach Cohen and Isaac Weinstock each played valuable minutes that helped Frisch grab this victory.
