CI News Articles

11-13-2011 | Beren Stars Shine Brighter than NSHA Stars, win Tier 2 Championship 61-33

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11-13-2011 | Frisch Cougars escape flames of Hillel Heat, 45-43, win Tier 1 5th Place

By Terri Graber

Two teams from New Jersey, the Hillel Heat and the Frisch Cougars, met up in Memphis for the Tier 1 5th place prize. First quarter play saw four lead changes as these equally matched teams took the floor. The Heat widened the lead three minutes into the second quarter, leading 17-12, but Frisch came back with two quick buckets by Bouaziz and Fishman. Heat guard, Zack Ashkenazi, who had 5 three pointers against the Cooper Yeshiva Macs in semi-final play, pumped in his first 3 of the day, followed by a bucket by Frisch's Judah Cohen and two free throws by Josh Ottensoser. Unable to capitalize on a steal, the Heat went to the line after drawing a foul, missing both free throws; Frisch down by three. Jacob Shapiro went for a long three and was fouled by the Heat, but couldn't buy a free throw. The Heat led at the half, 22-19.

And just like that, the Heat's Zack Ashkenazi hit his second three-pointer on an inbound pass to start the second half, followed by Firsch guard Seth Schlussel hitting a layup in rapid succession. Then, the Heat stole the ball and laid in a bucket. Not to be outdone, Schlussel got a steal and drew a non-shooting foul. Al Sultan of the Heat hit two free throws, followed by two from Liam Shapiro. The Heat's Benjamin hit a bucket, followed by a layup by Ashenazi on a steal. Frisch's Jacob Shapiro hit a bucket, drew a foul and capitalized on the "and 1," ending the third quarter down by 2.

Edward Benjamin of the Heat hit the first six points of the fourth quarter, increasing the Heat's lead to 5. The teams exchanged baskets until Judah Cohen drained a 3 and Ottensoser laid in a bucket to give Firsch a one point lead. Frisch got another steal with less than 2 minutes to play, but lost the ball out of bounds. Shapiro, Ottensoser, and Judah Cohen put in a 4 free throws to bolster the lead for Frisch. With 8.5 seconds left in the game, Frisch missed a layup giving the ball to the Heat. In a heart breaker for the Heat, the game went to Frisch who won the game 45-43.

11-13-2011 | NCJHS Jaguars Claw past Fasman Yeshiva 56-51, Claim Tier 2 Third Place

By Akiva Somer

The Tier 2 Consolation Game found the Fasman Yeshiva going up against the NCJHS Jaguars. In the first quarter, both Fasman Yeshiva and the Jaguars started off with a very balanced game. Then, in only 2 minutes, the Jaguars went on a 7-0 run. The Fasman Yeshiva team got very angry with that run, and played tremendous defense to come back to only be down by points at the end of the first quarter, 14-10.

In the second quarter, Fasman maintained their fierce defense. However, the Jaguars were very hard to defend. With a score of 20-17, Ari Silberstein hit a three to tie it up 20-20. The Jaguars get a little fiery themselves and go on a 5-0 run, to end the half winning 25-20.

Both teams start off strong in the third quarter. Mitch Kohananoo of Fasman hits a three very early in the third. The game has really been in anyone's hands from the beginning, and the 3rd quarter ends with both teams tied at 38.

The fourth quarter started off with exchanged baskets. Back and forth between the Jaguars and Fasman, each time hitting shot after shot and the score began to run up. With 3:40 left in the game, the Jaguars led 46-44. Although Fasman would not go away, the Jaguars just had a drop more today and they went on to win, 56-51. Edan Evenhaim had 22 points for the Jaguars, and Ari Silberstein had 19 points for Fasman Yeshiva in a losing effort.

11-13-2011 | Cooper Macs Win Tier 1 7th Place, defeat Hillel Hurricanes, 39-29

By Lee Baum

The battle for Tier 1 7th place pitted the Hillel Hurricanes against the home team Cooper Yeshiva Macs. The game started out quickly with Joseph Ammar of Hillel Miami hitting two 3-pointers to take an easy lead. Then the Cooper Macs settled in and took the lead 10-6. The 2 teams then traded baskets and the Macs ended the first quarter ahead, 12-10.

The Macs came out fast in the second quarter, scoring the first 5 points and extending their lead to 17-10. The quarter went back and for and ended with Joseph Ammar hitting his third 3-pointer of the game with 3 Cooper defenders all over him as the buzzer sounded. The Macs held on to a 21-19 lead to go into halftime.

Miami came out in the second half and tied the game up as Cooper struggled to get anything going offensively. Midway through the quarter, the Macs regained their shooting touch with consecutive baskets from Bryan Itkowitz and Eli Osdoba to go up 28-22. After a couple of Miami turnovers, the Macs hit a shot in the closing seconds of the third quarter to extend their lead to 32-22. Hot shooting Joseph Ammar was held scoreless in the quarter, thanks to stifling defense from Eli Osdoba as Miami only scored 3 points in the quarter.

Ammar started off the fourth quarter with a quick 3-pointer off an inbounds pass to cut Cooper's lead to 7. The Macs then went back out to a 36-25 lead off 2 free throws and a driving layup from Eli Osdoba. After a timeout, Miami hit two straight baskets to cut the lead to 7 once again. The Macs then missed 5 out of 7 free throws to keep the game within reach at 38-29. The final score ended up 39-29 as the Cooper Macs held on for victory. The high scorer for the Macs was Eli Osdoba, with 23 points. The high scorer for Miami was Joseph Ammar with 12.

11-13-2011 | Yeshiva Atlanta Lions Roar past Westchester Wolverines, 51-41 avoid Cooper Basement

By Cooper Invitational Staff

The Westchester Wolverines took on the Yeshiva Atlanta Lions for 7th place in Tier 2 Sunday morning at the Memphis Jewish Community Center. Rolling in late, the blurry eyed Lions, rubber legged from lack of sleep, revved up quickly, won the tip, and scored seven points in the first 3 minutes of play. The Wolverines fought back to end the first quarter with the Lions up 11-9.

In a run and gun second quarter, the Lions extended their lead with 3 pointers from Ratner and Goodfriend and layups from Kadosh and Weissman. Westchester's Scherbain hit 2 free throws and Cymrat stuffed in a layup to end the half with extending the lead to 25-14.

Kodosh came out strong in the second half with a quick layup, a finger roll, and 2 free throws. Matt Werner of the Wolverines came alive in the third quarter scoring 9 points, bringing the Wolverines to within 8.

Aaron Solomon of the Lions scored the first basket of the final quarter followed by a beautiful reverse layup by Kalnitz. Scherbain of the Wolverines continued to lead his team stuffing a layup and hitting an NBA 3 pointer. But it was too little, to late and the Yeshiva Atlanta avoid the Invitational basement, winning 51-41 of the Westchester Wolverines. Yondi Kadosh was the high scorer for the Lions with 20 points and Shlomi Scherban led the Wolverines with 15 points in their defeat.