BRING IT ON! YDE DOWNS FLATBUSH, SETS SIGHTS ON DRS SHOWDOWN .

Isaac Tawil watched as his sharpshooting teammate Eddie Beda dribbled out the clock, then stared at the courtside camera and made an impression of the Hulk while the jubilant YDE bench formed into a victory formation huddle. Shorthanded due to injury and down two starters in Abe Khezrie and David Sayegh, the Thunder stunned a lethal yet exasperated Flatbush Falcons squad 52-43 in front of a Brooklynite-laden crowd at the Sephardic Community Center on Thursday evening. The consensus pick for MYSHAL MVP went for 32 points and six blocks, summoning the dying drops of forte he possessed in the tank after classmates had said he looked “under the weather” pregame. It was “Isaac’s flu game,” said a fan,” He took this one extremely personal since it was a community game and propelled us to victory.” Indeed this was a possible season-savor for YDE, as the win pulled them to 6-3, leapfrogging the 5-3 Falcons in the standings for the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference ahead of their highly-anticipated matchup with the 7-2 DRS Wildcats on Thursday, December 23rd at the Center.

Flatbush entered the game emotionally “Gutted” after their devastating 57-56 home loss to Western conference powerhouse TABC(Torah Academy of Bergen County) Storm one night earlier. But down two starters of their own, Tawil was the go-to early and often for the Thunder. However, anxiety on both ends kept points at a premium until late in the first stanza when two deep Eddie Beda three balls put YDE up 15-8 after one. Defensively, basketball Wizard Corey Sandusky showed he hadn’t forgotten the 60-46 schooling Irwin Azar and Flatbush handed his man-man defense at the preseason tournament in October, as well as his 23 point outburst against the Storm, and instead transitioned to a box and one, that significantly limited the prolific point-guard to transition points. While he pounced on many opportunities, he muffed a few too many down the stretch as the Falcons sought for production on offense. Ironically, that would come out of the hot hand of Abe Saada, who gave it a “Gunners-go” and shot his team on an 11-3 blitz that put them up 19-18 early in the second quarter. However, following some offensive orders by Corey, YDE broke down the compacted zone defense incorporated by Coach Wright of Flatbush. It saw Isaac Tawil rip 12 straight points simply by exploiting the weak side using his sheer size and resilience by aggressively seizing control down low for constant “And one” opportunities that allowed the Thunder to take a 27-21 lead into the locker room.

Expo marker and clipboard in hand, Sandusky instructed his Thunder to remain patient as Flatbush aggressively looked to force the issue off of YDE turnovers through their compound infamous defensive style of ball, yet didn’t have the legs on this night to capitalize on an abundance of those golden eggs, and Corey knew it. But when they did, they were promptly rejected by the “Thrilling Thursday” chase-down block party of Isaac Tawil, whose 6,1 agility kept the Falcons at bay. When the rock was in their hands, the Thunder remained disciplined and milked the clock with the lead in tow before two more Eddie Beda cannon balls ignited the boisterous crowd to the tune of a 33-27 advantage entering the fourth quarter. The Falcons would attempt to double-team Tawil, but it was little to avail, as another Beda three from downtown to begin the fourth increased the advantage to nine, which was something Tawil wouldn’t let his side relinquish, placing a bow on his poetic MVP-caliber performance by single handily keeping its distance from Azar and the feisty Falcons, who were held in check during “crunch time” by the exquisite play of Ikey Greenstein, Joseph Hamra, Freddy Souid, Steven Sayeg, and Victor Gundi down the stretch on the other side of the hardwood. Eventually, the buzzer sounded on a statement win for the YDE Thunder.

“This victory shows the work ethic and commitment you put into this team.” exclaimed Sandusky postgame, “This is an excellent Flatbush team we just submerged without the benefit of two of our starters. Tonight was a testament to the fearlessness of the guys off the bench who did their job to the fullest.”

“Our confidence has most definitely returned,” said Eli Barnathan after the triumph, “We were heavy underdogs and had taken two straight losses on the chin to Heschel and HAFTR over the past week, and there’s nothing better than a win over your rival to boost your confidence.”

But if anyone needed uplifting, it seemingly was Tawil who sent shockwaves everywhere when he followed up his Yeshivah league record 56 point outing against Rambam with an 8 point showing against Heschel before the 59-44 loss to the Hawks.

“It’s a long season, so everyone is subject to a subpar game from time to time, but it looked as if our season was slipping away before tonight, especially without Dave and Abe, and I took that personally.”

“There are different ways to win a basketball game,” said Eddie Beda, “If we were going to overcome their 61% (Per the pregame poll), everyone had to chip in, and it’s what we did that BH lifted us to victory.”

Eddie had guaranteed school victory earlier that day, bellowed “It’s crunch time” just before leaving that day's work, and then owned up to it by pulling two buzzer-beaters and 12 points out of his pocket that was vital in the win.” I knew I had to step up with two of my good friends unable to play tonight, and it just added more motivation on my end to pull through for them.”

In addition to that, fans(Not just parents ) were at long last present in the gym, with super-fans Simon Hamra, Ralph A Jammal, Jack Chehebar, Sammy Franco, and Bobby Tawil all voicing their passion for YDE. “It’s great to have fans back,” Beda said,” It’s been tough to look around the league and see teams like DRS, Magen David, TABC, and Flatbush pack their gyms with 200-300 fans and then to go into hostile environments like Ramaz and HAFTR playing against crowds gets to us a little bit mentally.” “So to have our fans back is a breath of fresh air, and we need them to be wild against the DRS Wildcats next week.”

The stakes of that game became enhanced on Saturday night when Yeshivah Magen Abraham pulled off a league shocker and downed the Hebrew Academy of Far Rockway Hawks 59-53, dropping them to 6-4 and handing YDE sole possession of second in the East behind 7-2 DRS.

“First place on the line, baby,” stated Isaac Tawil.”We’re going to come ready to play at 8 PM, and they will too, which will likely make it a game for the ages.”

As David Sayegh likes to say, “Be there or be nowhere.”