11-2-2013 | Storm Overtakes Lions 43-31, Gets First Win of Tournament

11-2-2013 | Storm Overtakes Lions 43-31, Gets First Win of Tournament

By: Tani Finkelstein

The last game of the evening featured the Weinbaum Storm against the Yeshiva Atlanta Lions. The Storm looked like they were going to take the quarter by jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead, but Sam Kalnitz of Atlanta put up a jumper to put the Lions on the board. After that basket, the Storm went on a 9-0 run. Their half court press was working to perfection, as the Lions did not score in over 4 minutes of play, and had committed four turnovers. With 1:30 left to go in the quarter, Atlanta had committed ten fouls and the Storm was in the double bonus. Zev Frankel stopped the Weinbaum run by hitting a field goal, but Weinbaum kept scoring, making the score 15-5 in favor of the Storm at the end of the first quarter.

For the first half of the second quarter, Weinbaum took up most of the possessions and the clock. Although there was not a lot of scoring in the quarter, Weinbaum finally put some points on the board with 3 points. With just 2:50 left remaining in the half, Jared Stein of Weinbaum put up a nice baseline floater to make the score 20-5 in favor of the Storm. Finally, some late free throws from Atlanta put them on the board for the quarter. It was 24-11 at halftime, with the Storm out in front.

The mindset of Atlanta for the second half looked to be focused on their star center Samuel Kalnitz, as he scored 6 straight points for the Lions. Weinbaum was still spreading the ball around effectively, and had gotten scores from 4 out of their 5 starters, including a three ball from Ethan Lasko to make the score 34-18. Although the deficit was large, the Lions were still in the game, and were showing many sparks of life in the quarter. Their aggressiveness on the defensive end was starting to wear the Storm down, and causing turnover after turnover. Although the Storm was up 34-22 going into the final quarter, the Lions were on the defensive prowl and still felt they had a chance to win the game.

Kalnitz started off the fourth quarter scoring for the Lions with an inside shot for two to make it a ten point game. Atlanta’s energy and effort could be seen in their aggressive rebounding and making a strong effort to draw charges. Slowly but surely, they were clawing their way back. But just when it seemed like the Lions had a chance, the Storm started eating up precious clock time to hold on to their lead. With 2:45 left in the game, the Storm sill led 43-30. Although the Lions tried coming back, their shots just weren’t falling anymore. The final score was 43-31 in favor of the Storm. The leading scorer for the Storm was Daniel Lasko with 9 points and Samuel Kalnitz led the Atlanta Lions with 11 points.