YULA Boy’s Basketball Team Advances To Sarachek Semifinals

UCLA might have been eliminated from this year’s NCAA tournament, but at the Sarachek Tournament, the most prestigious tournament for Jewish high school basketball teams, No. 6 seed YULA Boys showed a flair for the dramatic, rallying from a nine-point deficit to beat No. 3 North Shore 47-46, advancing to the Tier I Semifinals.

After the buzzer sounded, YULA fans stormed the court at Yeshiva University’s Max Stern Athletic Center.

Trailing 36-27 with 7:30 remaining in the game, the YULA Panthers clamped down on the Lions with tight defense and clutch shooting.

Junior forward Yishai Rosenblatt nailed a corner three from the left side, was fouled and hit the free throw. Sophomore guard/forward Yoni Holender hit a three-pointer from the right corner to cut the deficit to two points, with North Shore leading 38-36 with 5:29 remaining. On the next possession, Holender thought he hit a three that would give his team the lead, but a foul was called on a teammate for a moving screen. A layup from junior guard Josh Barak made it a one-point game.

North Shore would go up by four in a wild sequence where forward David Orbach, a senior, hit a layup and was fouled, but after he pumped his fist and stared at a YULA player, he was given a technical foul for taunting. Though Orbach hit his free throw, on the next possession, YULA sophomore guard/forward Alex Gabbay hit two clutch free throws. Junior guard Judah Robin hit two of three free throws to tie the game, 42-42. Holender hit a three to put YULA up 45-42. After a free throw by North Shore, Robin hit two more foul shots to make it 47-43.

In the final seconds of the game, North Shore’s Jonah Carmili hit a three to make it a 47-46. He intercepted YULA’s inbounds pass, but he passed to a teammate who airballed a three at the buzzer.

North Shore Hebrew Academy, from Great Neck, New York, winners of the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League Championship, came into the game with an unblemished 14-0 league record.

A key to the victory was Barak, who sacrificed his body to draw charges on consecutive plays in the final minute.“We kind of felt the whole game that we were better than them,” he said on the macslive.com broadcast. “We knew we would start getting buckets like we always do.”

YULA beat Maimonides 49-38 in the Tier 1 qualifier on Thursday. Their next game is Sunday, March 26, against the No. 2 seed, Valley Torah.