CESJDS LIONS Tear Apart Valley Torah WOLFPACK, 44-29

The second game of the 2019 Cooper Invitational featured the #7 seed CESJDS Lions against the #10 Valley Torah Wolfpack. The game was a hard fought battle until the very end. Throughout the first half, Benji Dan of the Wolfpack showed off his three point shooting skills and led the Wolfpack to a 2 point lead going into halftime 22-20.

Although the Wolfpack got off to a quick start to begin the game, the start to the second half was not quite the same. The Lions went on a 14-1 scoring run in the third quarter and finished the quarter with a 34-23 lead. The defense of the Lions paid off big in the third quarter as it held the Wolfpack to only one point in 8 minutes of play.

Some missed layups in the fourth quarter did not help with the Wolfpack’s struggles, but they finally began to chip into the Lions’ lead at the six minute mark. The aggressive gameplay of the underdogs in the first half did not translate to the second half as they were outscored and outplayed. Tyler Farkas of the Lions caught fire early in the fourth quarter and helped sparked the Lions to a victory.

The Lions took home a win with a final score of 44-29. The high scorer for the Lions was Jake Rulinick as he finished the game with 13 points. The high scorer for the Wolfpack was Benji Dan, finishing the game with 9 points. The Lions look to continue their winning ways as they enter the tier one bracket of the tournament, and the Wolfpack look to bounce back in Tier II.