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

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.