If you keep playing a team, eventually you are going to solve them, especially in the playoffs , and that happened to the DRS Wildcats, who came in and rolled past the YDE Thunder 59-47, in round 1 of the Varsity basketball playoffs on Thursday night (2/14), in front of a packed Green House in Wodmere,NY.
YDE came into this game with hope, that they would be able to once again take down DRS, like they have the previous 2 years in the postseason.
The game started , and DRS came out flying. With their infamous crowd on hand , they blitzed YDE and took a quick 8-0 lead.
But YDE hung in there, and eventually got themselves into rhythm , as they cut the DRS lead down to 14-10 after 1 quarter of play , behind Isaac Alfaks’s hot hand.
In the second, DRS once again came out hot, intensifying their pressure on defense, and doing just enough on offense to extend their lead to 18-12 with under 5 minutes to go in the half .
But YDE came right back, and closed the half on a 7-2 run to cut the Wildcats lead to 24-23 at the break.
In the 3rd, YDE took the 26-24 lead, before the teams went back and forth from there, trading basket after basket.
With the quarter winding down, tye Thunde r found themselves up 34-33, before DRS kicked it up a notch and scored 5 unanswered points, including a buzzer beater to end the third, to put them up 38-34 with 8 minutes left in the YDE season.
Unfortunately for the Thunder in the 4th, Gavreil Kahn and the Wildcats were too much , as they extended their run to 13-0, and 16-2, to take a 49-36 lead, midway through the 4th. DRS didn’t take their foot off the gas, and continued to smother YDE , going up as big as 57-38, and surviving garbage time for a 59-47 win , to end the Thunders season.
With the win, the Wildcats will move on to face the TABC Storm in the quarter finals at the Weather Center, in what should be a battle for the ages!
As for the Thunder, they fail to reach the elite eight for the first time in 3 years .
This also marks the final game in a YDE uniform, for the following players:
Isaac Alfaks
Solly Badgadi
Joey Chalouh
Shimon Gabay
Joe Harray
Jack Katach
Moshe Lati
Alex Levy
Hymie Sasson
Toby Zaffrani
Ray Zacakria
Thanks guys ! Your performance, hard work and amazing sportsmanship will never be forgotten!
Also a special thanks to the head coach Morris Dweck , what a season, and career!
As well as the assistant coach Frank Ercole.
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