Northshore’s Fourth-Quarter Surge Seals Historic Memphis Invitational Win

Despite being just a thirty minute drive away from each on Long Island, New York, it took an entire weekend of basketball 1,000 miles away in Memphis, Tennessee for the DRS Wildcats and the Northshore Stars to meet in the championship game in the Memphis Invitational. The two teams were no strangers to each other before this matchup, last playing elimination basketball two years ago in the first round of the Yeshiva League Playoffs, where Northshore destroyed DRS, beating them by twenty. Both of these teams have been extremely successful in recent years, with DRS winning last year’s Yeshiva League Championship and coming in second in the Memphis Invitational, losing to YULA in the final game. Northshore is just three years removed from a Yeshiva League Championship of their own, making these two teams some of the most successful teams in Jewish hoops. With both teams buzzing with energy and anticipation, they trotted onto the court, beginning their potential road to glory and a chance at becoming the 16th champions of the Memphis Invitational. 

The first quarter began with the teams trading turnovers and unforced miscues, but DRS eventually started off the scoring with Micahel Solomon’s tip in to make it 2-0. Already three minutes in, Northshore finally got on the board and tied it up with a Jacob Cohen drive to the basket. DRS would jump right back in front on the back of Yitz Bennet’s two good free throws to make it 4-2 halfway through the first quarter. The offenses finally decided to wake up as the three minute mark approached with Northshore’s Benji Levian hitting a three before DRS star Elisha Tsaidi matched him to make it 7-5 DRS. That wouldn’t last long as Jacob Cohen would tie up the game for Northshore with a jumper in the middle. The Wildcats would take the lead back with a Michael Solomon midrange, but would surrender it on back to back jumpers from Northshore to give Northshore an 11-9 advantage. With just a minute remaining in the quarter, the Wildcats roared right back with a three from star senior Gabey Spodek and a tough and-1 basket from Yitz Bennett with a made free throw to give DRS the 15-11 lead to end the first quarter. 

Yitz Bennett, star senior for DRS, picked up in the second quarter right where he left off with enough contested drive to the basket to give DRS a six point lead. Northshore was able to cut it back down to four on Andrew Kohanim’s lay-in, making the score 17-13. After trading several rounds of turnovers, Charlie Sassoon, the star Northshore senior who was the key player in their upset of the the top seeded LA Club United on Friday, knocked down a three to cut the DRS to one. Aryeh Oppenheimer was able to give DRS some points back with a layup off of an offensive board before Andrew Kohanim hit a free throw and Aryeh Sanandaji hit an alley-oop layup for Northshore to tie up the game with two minutes left in the first half. Andrew Kohanim was able to strike again with another layup before Aryeh Sanandaji struck again, speeding down the court for an and-1 layup while knocking down the free throw to make it 24-19 Stars. With just .2 seconds left in the half, DRS set up a shot to Solomon for a tip-in that didn’t fall, leaving the Wildcats down five at halftime. 

Looking to their stars to get them back into it, the Wildcats fed junior guard Elisha Tsaidi to start the third quarter, hitting back to threes in between another Kohanim layup to cut the Northshore lead to just one. After trading missing shots and turnovers, with four minutes left in the quarter Elisha Tsaidi was able to connect again, his tenth and eleventh points of the day, to give DRS a one point advantage. Stealing the momentum and the show, Tsaidi could not be stopped, hitting another 3 to push DRS’s lead to four with 3:08 left in the third quarter, prompting Northshore Head Coach Shalom Babayev to call time out. The time out didn’t stop DRS’s energetic attack as Gabey Spodek was hit a backdoor layin and Tsaidi was fouled and sent to the line where hit a free throw, to give DRS a seven point lead. Yitz Bennett was able to extend that further, tipping in his own miss, to push the lead to nine. Benji Levian was able to stop the bleeding for the Stars with a jumper from the elbow and Jacob Cohen hit a layup while getting fouled to make it a 35-30 DRS advantage entering the fourth quarter. 

With the championship on the line and a five point game, both teams came out with full energy to start the fourth quarter. After trading missed shots, Benji Levian was able to make it a two point game with a three from the right side. DRS attempted to respond with another Tsaidi three, trying to give it to their star player in clutch time, but the shot could not fall and the ball went back Northshore’s way. Northshore decided to try to feed their own star, Charlie Sassoon, who was able to get a look for a deep three to give Northshore back the lead for the first time since the beginning of the third. Jacob Cohen was able to hit a foul shot before Benji Levian hit another huge three to give Northshore a 10-0 run to begin the fourth, prompting DRS to call timeout with 3:39 remaining in the game with the score 40-35. That timeout could not slow down the Stars as Andrew Kohanim was able to get an offensive rebound which he tipped in for a basket while taking a foul, hitting his free throw to give Northshore an eight point lead. Trying to get back into the game, DRS scored their first points of the fourth quarter with just three minutes to go by way of a Solomon free throw. Northshore immediately entered their time wasting offense, but turned the ball over on a key travel. DRS could not convert on the other end and Andrew Kohanim continued his attack inside the DRS paint with another layup to push the lead to nine. With just 1:34 to go in the championship, Northshore’s Aryeh Sanandaji was able to knock down two clutch free throws to make it a 47-36 game. However, DRS was not interested in going down easy, with Gabey Spodek coming down the court and knocking down a clutch three to pull within eight. After a Northshore turnover, DRS could not cut the lead any further, as Elisha Tsaidi could not get back into his third quarter groove, missing a three pointer. DRS fouled Benji Levian with 1:13 to go, who missed both sending the ball the other way where Jacob Cohen was able to jump the passing lane, stealing the ball and sending it across the court to Charlie Sassoon who was fouled and hit both of his free throws to give Northshore a ten point lead. With 38.2 seconds left in the game, DRS pulled their stars off the court as Northshore went down the court ecstatic that they were about to win the championship. The icing on the cake for Northshore was Benji Levian’s made free throw before DRS’s Daniel Greenberg hit a meaningless three pointer as time expired to give Northshore a 51-42 win and their first ever Memphis Invitational Championship.  

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