On Saturday night at approximately 11:53 PM ET, the YDE Thunder and Waterbury Wolfpack wrapped up an exciting night of Yeshivah league playoff basketball, with YDE scoring the #5 over #4 upset 53-50 in overtime at the Kings Bay Youth organization gym in Brooklyn, NY. Despite YDE superstar Isaac TAWIL(12 points) fouling out of the contest, the Thunder received contributions from seniors Eddie Beda(15 points), David Sayegh(12 points), and Joseph Hamra(6 points) while also seeing junior Ikey Greenstein win over the crowd with his heart and hustle down the stretch wrestling for rebounds.
Many were worried that the neutral site would hamper the deserved “Home court advantage” that the Wolfpack out of Connecticut deserved for being the higher seed. Still, as Nick Saban once said about his Alabama football team, “We played in a number of these neutral site games, I would call them, whether it's a playoff game, a bowl game, or one of these kickoff classic type things, which I think is helpful too, you know, our players in terms of playing someplace that's not a home game for them.” For the Jewish “road warriors” of America who played all
14 games on the road, it was just another game except that their fans would watch them in person for the first time all year long and it made for a galvanizing atmosphere.
Waterbury, who had won eight of their last nine after a 1-4 start, was steadfast in their pursuit of taking home the rubber match between these two teams after a regular series split. The Wolfpack led 7-0 three minutes before Eddie Beda’s corner triple put the Thunder on the board. The ignition to the unruly crowd on hand with fans at a fever pitch on both sides throughout the night arrived when Isaac Tawil sent Eitan Weiner flying on a crossover and nailed a three-pointer which cut the YDE deficit down to 7-6. But unfortunately, that would be all the scoring for the first quarter as the Wolfpack steadied the tied and put on a 5-0 clip for a 12-6 advantage.
The second quarter began with YDE switching to their strong-suited man defense. Although it initially confined the Wolfpack attack, captain Zack Weiner caught fire as the half wound down and capitalized on the Eddie BEDA airball from beyond the arc by banking a half-court shot at the buzzer to restore Waterbury’s largest lead of the contest at 26-19 going into the break. “We’re just getting started,” said Avi Block of Waterbury, “That was just a warm-up; now it’s time for the show.” In Avi’s defense, Waterbury had every reason to believe they would be the victors, for they had held YDE to 10% from downtown, had forced TAWIL into early foul trouble, and were outworking and outmuscling the Thunder on the glass. Not to mention the backing their uproarious fanbase had brought this evening, clearly making it difficult for the Thunder to communicate defensively. However, there was a sense of composure amongst the YDE fans, for they had seen this movie before. The Thunder began the season 5-1 before dropping five of seven, only to eke out a 43-40 victory over the powerhouse Flatbush Falcons in their regular-season finale to make it to this moment. Now tasked with overcoming a second-half deficit to rescue their YDE careers, the seniors delivered once more.
Akin to his heroics in the “Flatbush finale,” David “the savior” Sayegh rattled home a three from the wing to cap off a 7-3 Thunder run, thus forcing a timeout Wolfpack coach Menachem Braun. Later in the frame, Sayegh knocked down two more triples, including one from the top of the key in the final ticks of the third to send the bout to the fourth quarter even at 35, sending the YDE crowd into a frenzy.
The defensive-laden stanza began with turnovers galore before five quick Thunder points capped off by Eddie Beda’s “swish town” trey from the corner increased the lead to 40-35 with 4:00 remaining in regulation time. After Moshe Weiner and Abi, Khezrie exchanged threes, YDE senior Joseph Hamra recorded a defensive stop with a rejection. Isaac Tawil lost the handle and turned the ball over with 2:40 left to play. With 59 seconds remaining, the senior strongman fouled out of the ballgame, and the Thunder would need to survive without the benefit of the best player on the floor.
Waterbury had a glimpse of the quarterfinals when sophomore stud Hudi Kalish was fouled on a three-point attempt with five seconds remaining and the Wolfpack down 43-41 but missed the second free throw sandwiched in between two makes. After Abi Khezrie’s half-court heave fell short, we played over time between these two evenly matched teams.
The 4:00 minute extra session boiled down to shots at the charity stripe famously not Waterbury’s preference when looking to close out a game, which is precisely the area where YDE took control for good.
Joseph Hamra sunk two free throws to put the Thunder ahead 45-44 with 2:40 remaining, but a Moshe Weiner jumper put Waterbury on top 46-45. Eddie Beda knocked down four straight from the line, which seemed to ice the game with YDE leading 51-46 and 17 seconds remaining in overtime. But two free throws and a layup by Avi Weiner drew Waterbury within 51-50 before two enormous Joseph Hamra strikes put YDE back up 53-50 with 2.9 seconds on the clock. Zack Weiner gave one last kick at the can, but this half-court attempt was unsuccessful, setting off pandemonium out of elated Thunder and their fans, who advance to Thursday night’s battle against the top-seeded SAR Sting(13-1) in Riverdale, NY.
“We stayed focused, stuck with it, and believed in ourselves,” said Joseph Hamra, “Now it’s onto the next one.”
“Pressure is a privilege, and we needed to embrace it, especially at the line,” said Eddie BEDA.”There was much pressure riding on my shoulders after TAWIL fouled out, but I’m just glad we’re moving onto the next round.”
“We did it, Marv!” exclaimed YDE coach Corey Sandusky who is no longer under fire from the fans like he was after the mortifying loss at Magen David two weeks ago. “We made those adjustments, and our guys stepped up, making it an all around team win.”
“Hats off to YDE on a hard-fought game said Yisroel Winter of the Wolfpack, “But I’m proud of our guys for the way we were resilient all season long up until the final buzzer.”
CALLING THE GAME:
I got behind the mic last night for the official first time! I was called upon last minute for the YDE varsity basketball playoff game last night vs. Waterbury, and what an honor it was to broadcast such a thrilling encounter. Fans can access the game and rewatch the live stream at the Danny Mizrahi YouTube channel.
STATS:
Waterbury:
Zack Weiner: 19 points
Avi Weiner 13 points
Moshe Weiner 7 points
YDE:
Eddie BEDA 15 points (6 FTs)
Isaac TAWIL 12 points
David Sayegh 12 points
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