11-2-2013 | Macs bounce back, topple Wolfpack 49-47

11-2-2013 | Macs bounce back, topple Wolfpack 49-47

By: Shmuel Meir Perl

In the first Tier II game of the night, #7 Waterbury took on the #6 seeded hometown Cooper Macs. Cooper scored first after a Bryan Itkowitz layup, and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead when Itkowitz hit a corner three. Then Waterbury had a 6-0 run of their own led by Nafti Gruenberg and Dovid Schiller. Itkowitz scored again, but another run by Waterbury put them up by three with two minutes left in the first quarter. Both teams then went on a cold streak, and the score at the end of the first was 10-7 in favor of the Wolfpack.

Waterbury started the second by making two free throws, but an Aaron Knoble layup kept it a three point game. Waterbury responded with a 9-2 run, led by Ezra Shulman’s three pointer to put them up by ten. Cooper responded with a 4-0 run which ended with two Ezra Shulman free throws. After a Nafti Gruenberg fastbreak layup, Bryan Itkowitz had a four point play and a layup for Cooper to cut the lead to four. Waterbury scored again to make the score 27-21 at the end of the first half.

Dovid Schiller scored first for Waterbury in the second half, but three Cooper free throws kept the game close. Waterbury scored two more times after that, but a Cooper free throw and a layup kept them in the game. Waterbury then went on another run to put them up by double digits, but the Macs countered with a Bryan Itkowitz three point play and a JJ Kampf free throw. With six seconds left on the clock, Bentzi Kampf heaved up a contested shot and airballed it, but Bryan Itkowitz was there to catch the rebound and put it up before time expired. At the end of the third quarter the score was 37-33 Waterbury. However, with the Wolfpack in foul trouble and Bryan Itkowitz having a monster game, Cooper was still in a great position to pull out a victory.

Waterbury started the fourth well with an Ezra Astotsky layup, but another Itkowitz three point play made it a three point game. With two and half minutes gone by in the fourth, Dovid Schiller had a breakaway layup, but a chasedown block by Gabriel Goldstein and subsequent three point play by Bryan Itkowitz tied up the game. Itkowitz then hit a corner three to give Cooper a brief lead, but Ezra Shulman hit a three on the other end to make it 42-42. With just under four minutes remaining, JJ Kampf hit a free throw to once again give the Macs the lead. Itkowitz scored again, but a Dovid Schiller jumpshot kept it a one point game. Then Schiller hit a three, but Itkowitz countered with a three of his own. With 40 seconds left, the Wolfpack got an offensive board but failed to take advantage of it. With five seconds left, Bentzi Kampf hit a free throw to make it a two point game, but when Waterbury got the ball back they could not capitalize on a 2 on 1 fastbreak. Cooper got the ball back and ran out the clock to win the game, 49-47. The high scorer for Waterbury was Dovid Schiller with 17 points, while Bryan Itkowitz led Cooper with outstanding 35 points.