11-1-2013 | Rams Take Bite out of Jaguars, 39-36; Move to Semi-Finals

11-1-2013 | Rams Take Bite out of Jaguars, 39-36; Move to Semi-Finals

By: Tani Finkelstein

In the first Tier 1 game of the day on Friday, the #2 Ramaz School Rams took on #7 New Community Jewish H.S. Jaguars. In the first quarter, both teams played very physical and struggled to score in the paint. The Jaguars forced a lot of turnovers, but could not convert on the offensive end. Ramaz committed a lot of fouls, but it did not hurt them, as the Jaguars struggled mightily from the charity stripe. Ramaz got six points from Daniel Berg in the first quarter, and had the lead at the end of the first quarter, 8-6.

The Jaguars came out strong in the 2nd quarter, going on a 4-0 run to take the lead. Ramaz then countered with a 4-0 run of their own. Ramaz then got out running, converting on two successful fast breaks. The score at the end of the half was 22-16, in favor of Ramaz. Daniel Berg finished the half with 11 points for Ramaz and Gabe Berger finished the half with 7 points for the Jaguars.

In the 3rd quarter, the Jaguars went back to forcing turnovers on Ramaz, and started to hit shots on the offensive end to cut their deficit in half. The Jaguars also pulled down a lot of offensive boards, and towards the end of the quarter, the game was all tied up. Ramaz scored again and were leading by two, until Edan Evenhaim hit a three to give the Jaguars back the lead. The score at the end of the quarter was 28-27, in favor of the Jaguars.

In the 4th quarter, the lead went back and forth, with neither team able to pull away from each other. Ramaz had the lead by three with less than a minute to go when Noah Emanuel cut the Jaguar’s deficit to 1. Clutch free throws from Berg put Ramaz’s lead back to three with less than 20 seconds left in the game. With the clock winding down, the Jaguars missed the potential game-tying three, and Ramaz was able to sneak away with a 39-36 victory and move into the Tier 1 semi-finals on Saturday night. The high-scorer for Ramaz was Daniel Berg, who finished with a game-high 17 points and the high-scorer for the Jaguars was Edan Evanhaim, who finished with 10 points on the game.