Memphis Yeshiva Invitational

Cooper Macs Advance To Tier 2 Championship, Defeat CESJDS Lions, 31-29

In the first Tier II semi-final matchup of the night, the #4 Cooper Macs faced the #1 CESJDS Lions. Asher Kirshtein of the Macs and Max Stravitz of the Lions started things off with threes for both teams. Daniel Offer attacked the basket twice, scoring each time, giving the Lions the lead with half the quarter gone. The Lions started to get rolling as the Macs turned over the ball a few too many times. Simcha Osdoba hit one of his signature lefty layups looking to tie things up for the Macs. Yisrael Weiner of the Macs hit an inside shot just in front of the arc as the first quarter closed with Lions holding just a one point lead over the Macs, 10-9.

As the second quarter began, the quick-paced style of the Lions began to take its toll on the Macs, which led to a 5-0 run by the Lions. JDS was able to sneak in another put up basket, but unfortunately, for the Macs, they were unable to do anything offensively as they came up dry in the second quarter not scoring a single point.

Ethan Morris of the Macs scored his first points of the game as the second half opened up with a deep three. The Lions tried to maintain their defensive edge, but this comes back to bite them as they foul Osdoba who converts his free throws at the line. The Macs use this as a springboard to redeem themselves from last quarter, going on an 11-0 run to make it just a three point game.

The Macs hit a small bump in the road as the fourth quarter began, when Ezra Cooper goes down hard. Although he did leave the game after getting hurt, he did return to the game. Even with this setback, the Macs were unfazed, and closed the Lions lead down to one point with just 4:30 minutes to go in the game and a berth in the Tier II Championship Game at stake. The low-scoring game was tied up with just two minutes to go. With less than a minute left, Osdoba came through in the clutch with a huge corner three, sending the entire Memphis community into an electric frenzy. The Macs went on to win by a final score of 31-29. The Macs were led by Simcha’s 13 points while the Lions were led by Daniel Offer with 15 points.

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