11-12-2011 | RASG Warriors Hold Off Late Surge by Westchester Wolverines, Win 52-40

11-12-2011 | RASG Warriors Hold Off Late Surge by Westchester Wolverines, Win 52-40

By Avi Kirshtein

Late on Saturday evening, the RASG Warriors battled the Westchester Wolverines with with each team looking to get their win of the tournament. The first quarter began rather quietly with neither team substantially lighting up the scoreboard. With 5 minutes left to play in the 1st, the Warriors led 4-3. Both teams continued to embark on a defensive struggle, and neither team was able to pull away from the other. At the end of the 1st quarter the score was 13-11 in favor of the Warriors.

The second quarter continued to be a fierce defensive struggle, with no points scored being scored in the first 2 minutes. Two foul shots by the Wolverines and 2 buckets by the Warriors brought the game to 17-13 RASG with 4 minutes left to play in the 1st half. Back and forth scoring occurred for the rest of the quarter with RASG having the better hand. At halftime, the RASG Warriors led 24-17.

The second half began with a fired up RASG team scoring a layup and a few ferocious blocks by RASG’s Aaron Furst, which led to another RASG score. RASG continued to pull ahead, and with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the score was 34-17. Westchester than scored some points in return, and a possible comeback seemed to be lurking in the shadows heading into the 4th quarter when Westchester’s Shlomi Scherban hit two 3 point shots as Westchester rallied to be behind by only 8 points at the end of the third quarter, 38-30.

A fired up Westchester team began the 4th quarter with Westchester’s Cymrot scoring a bucket bringing them within 6 points as Yehuda Fried and his other teammates made plenty of noise on the sideline which caused RASG much distraught. Westchester continued to slowly edge closer, and with 4 minutes left in the game, the score was 41-36 RASG. Despite a hard fought comeback attempt by the Westchester Wolverines, the RASG Warriors were able to protect their lead. The final score of this epic battle was 52-40 RASG. Matthew Povman led the Wolverines with 17 points, and Isaac Schechter led the Warriors with 23 points.