RZJHS TIGERS extinguish Hillel HEAT 45-30!

Written By: Rebecca Schubert

Hillel Heat, the 13th seed, faced off against Rochelle Zelle Tigers, the 4th seed. The odds were not in the Heat’s favor, but with passion and a real want to win the game, they could pull through. The Heat started off a bit nervous with the ball and struggled to get the ball moving. Meanwhile, the Tigers were under control and moved the ball swiftly getting many open shots.  Jesse Shapira, a senior, had control of the ball, his teammates, and the court. His calmness and swiftness of the game brought the score up 14-9 by the end of the first quarter.

By the start of the second quarter, the game was still close, but the Heat needed to turn up the intensity to get anything going. The Heat brought in some more intensity, but not enough to get the score up to win the game. The Tigers kept the ball moving and continued to get open shots to bring the score up to 28-11 by the end of the second half. The Heat struggled to get the ball moving fast enough to get the score up. The question remained, will they bring on the heat in the second half, or will the Tigers continue to extinguish their flame?

As the third quarter started, the intensity of the game on both sides cranked up. Both teams were out to prove they wanted it more. Coach Zvi Goldberg, of the Heat shouted to his team “PRESSURE” and “Be aggressive”. The pressure was definitely on for Rochelle Zelle to stick to what they do best and break the strong defense the Heat was applying. The end of the game will show who proved they truly wanted it more and did whatever it took to get that win.

The fourth quarter started with the Tigers up 35-19. The Tigers did not seem too worried about the game, while on the other hand the Heat were bringing their promised fire. The Tigers played strong the whole game, but now in the fourth their offense was being challenged greatly. The Tigers had many open shots, but for some reason were not taking them. To be a frontrunner for the Tier 1 championship, the Tigers are going to have to shoot more to get the points necessary to win it all. The Heat tightened up the score at the end, but ended up falling to the Tigers, 45-30. The high scorer for the Tigers was Jake Miller with 12 points, and the leading scorer for the Heat was Eli Braha with 11 points. The Tigers came into the game hot and ready to take the win, do they have what it takes to bring home the Championship Trophy?