Katz Storms into 5th place; defeat Kushner COBRAS 54-39!

In the thirteenth place game on Sunday morning, we witnessed the matchup between the Rae Kushner Cobras and the Katz Yeshiva Storm. Abie Betesh started off the scoring for Katz with a three. Kushner came back with a layup from Gabe Plotsker to make it a 3-2 Katz lead. Both teams went up and down the floor, but were unable to convert. Gabe Plotsker re-opened the scoring with a beautiful layup in stride to give the lead back to Kushner. Plotsker hit another layup, but Katz tied it with a three from Noah Mamann. Kushner responded abruptly with a layup from Ethan Wiater, but Katz had yet another three from Mamann to take back the lead. They extended that lead after Adi Rotenstein hit a free throw, but Kushner came back with a layups from Josh Tzibury and Josh Shapiro to make it 12-10 Kushner. However, Katz responded with buzzer-beating three from Abie Betesh to give them a 13-12 lead at the end of quarter one.

The second quarter began with a free throw from Noah Mamann and a layup from Abie Betesh to put Katz up by four. Ethan Wiater responded for Kushner with a layup in stride. Brandon Munter then hit a free throw for Katz to put them up 17-14. Kushner came right back down, however, with layups from Jake Indyk and Josh Shapiro to put Kushner up 18-17. That didn’t hold for very long after Benny Matheson hit a three and Jacob Shulman hit a jumper to give the Storm a thundering 22-18 lead. Jacob Shulman struck yet again with another layup to force Kushner to take a time-out. Kushner needed to turn things around fast, as they did not have the momentum. That they did with a three from Nadav Twitzer to make it 24-21 Storm. However, Jacob Shulman continued his insane tear with a layup and Isaac Shapiro hit a three for the Storm to take back the momentum right before the end of the half and had a lead of 29-21.

The second half started with Kushner down and needing some points. They got some points on the board after a Jake Indyk layup, but Katz came back with three from Abie Betesh. This would not faze Kushner as they hit a three of their own from Nadav Twitzer. Katz came back with a layup from Adi Rotenstein, but Nadav Twitzer struck yet again with another three to make the score 34-29 Katz. Abie Betesh and Brandon Munter, from Katz, hit a layup each to extend Katz’s evergrowing lead. Betesh continued to hit a pair of free throws to make the score 40-29. Katz seemed to have complete control.

Katz continued their hot hands with a Jacob Shulman layup, but Gabe Plotsker matched that with a layup of his own. Noah Mamann kept up with Katz’s standards and hit a pair of free throws and a three to extend their lead. Nadav Twitzer, desperate to keep Kushner in the game, knocked down a three to make it a 47-34 Katz lead. Jacob Shulman hit another pair of free throws to give Katz a comfortable fifteen-point lead. They made that lead seventeen after David Kahane hit a layup, but Kushner pushed it back to fifteen with a layup from Jake Indyk. The lead for Katz became eighteen after a three, but Kushner matched that to cut it to just fifteen. Katz just had to waste four minutes of basketball and they would be victorious. That they did and they won with a final score of 54-39.