On Tuesday night, the Noam Knights hosted the RYNJ Jaguars for a thrilling doubleheader. Going into the night all four teams had already clinched playoff spots, but seeding was on the line.

The night opened with the seventh grade teams. The seventh grade Knights took the jump ball and never looked back. Despite a couple of early baskets from big man Donny Book (team high eight pts), the Jaguars were not able to convert on the majority of their field goal attempts. Yeshivat Noam was led by Harry Orlinsky’s (game high) 14 points as they cruised to a 61-26 victory. With the victory Noam remains the number one team in the division, with a big game still to play against Moriah, and RYNJ locked themselves in as the number five team

After the opening game, the eighth grade Knights raised their championship banner from the year before and then took to the court to defend their title as reigning YMSSA champs. These two teams had met last month at RYNJ, when the Knights played like champions they are and devastated the Jaguars with a 51-29 victory. As if motivated by seeing the Noam banner, the Jaguars came out on fire. Tzvi Motechin scored first (and often) for the Jags, pacing RYNJ with a game high 22 points. Yonah Tarzik devastated the Noam offense, picking their pocket on the press, dishing out 12 assists and scoring 13 points of his own. This was a true team victory, with sharp shooting by Dani Pfeiffer, Daniel Gopin and Pacey Jacoby, along with a strong presence inside by Coby Mandel, Avraham Glatter, Bentzion Rotblatt and Tani Engel. The Knights were led by David Gellis (team high 10 points) and Eytan Suss (eight pts).

The win secures RYNJ’s first place position in their division (currently tied with SAR), and second place tie in the league when the playoffs begin. Noam still has to play Ramaz and SSBC, and if they win those two games they will join RYNJ and SAR as division champions and will then have to sort out seeding going into the playoffs