10-26-2012 | #1 Magen David Warriors Advance to Final Four over Cooper Macs, 48-37

10-26-2012 | #1 Magen David Warriors Advance to Final Four over Cooper Macs, 48-37

By: Shmuel Meir Perl

In a really anticipated matchup, the overall number one seed in the tournament, Magen David Warriors, faced off against the number eight seed the Cooper Macabbees. Magen David scored the first bucket of the game, but SuperSeth Goldstein responded with a jumper to tie up the game at two. A series of Cooper turnovers sparked a 7-0 run by Magen David, capped off by a Jeff Pardo three-pointer. Magen David continued to score and get stops on defense until Agent Zero, Gabe Goldstein, hit a three pointer. Cooper scored again and at the end of the first it was 11-7 with Magen David in the lead.

Cooper started the second quarter off well with a monster block, but it could not translate into points when Eli Osdoba airballed a three point try on the other end. Magen David then went on a 6-0 run. After both teams had some really bad turnovers and Magen David scored again, Agent Zero affirmed his comparison with Gilbert Arenas by draining another three. Midway through the second quarter, Magen David Started to pull away, with key baskets from Morris Dweck and Matthew Cohen. At halftime the score was 29-12 Magen David, and Cooper fans started to come to the realization that maybe they weren’t the best team in the tournament.

Cooper scored first in the second half, but then Magen David forced some bad decisions and got two baskets. Cooper then went on an 8-0 run behind good shooting from senior guard, Justin Wruble, to put Cooper within 11 points. Both teams stole the ball and scored, but on a key possession, Bryan Itkowitz committed an ill-advised foul, which allowed Magen David to get the ball back and score. This angered Itkowitz, who made a key free throw to cut the lead to single digits, but Magen David made a buzzer beater which gave them a 38-27 lead to end the third quarter.

Magen David got the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but freshman David Silbermann of the Macs recorded his first career Cooper Invitational bucket. After a few minutes without so much scoring and a lot of missed free throws, Amin Adjmi broke the silence with a nice catch and shoot. Senior Dylan Cooper made an impact by scoring on a banked in leaner, but his basket was to no avail as Magen David won 48-37. The high scorer for Magen David was Morris Dweck with 15 points, and for Cooper it was Gabe “Agent Zero” Goldstein with 8 points.