10-31-2013 | Bulldogs Open Up Invitational with win over Wolfpack

10-31-2013 | Bulldogs Open Up Invitational with win over Wolfpack

By: Shmuel Meir Perl

In the opening game of the 7th Annual Cooper Invitational, the #9 seed Waterbury Wolfpack faced off against the #8 seed Yavneh Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were looking to bounce back in this year’s tournament after finishing in a disappointing 11th place last year. The Wolfpack, newcomers to the Invitational, looked to send Yavneh back to Tier II. Itai Guttman scored the first points of the game for Yavneh with an opening possession free throw. After another Dallas bucket, Menachem Braun put up the first points for Waterbury with a top of the the key jumper. Yavneh countered with a 5-0 run led by a big three from Sam Kleinman. The teams exchanged buckets for the next few minutes, but a key steal by Itai Guttman and subsequently by David Rudomin’s foul shots put Yavneh up by six. At the end of the first quarter, Yavneh led 12-8 behind Sam Kleinman’s 8 points.

Eliezer Shulman opened the second quarter with a three point play for the Wolfpack. However, Yavneh took control with a 7-2 run led by Zak Schultz’s corner three. Waterbury fought back with a 7-2 run of their own. With 30 seconds left in the half, Menachem Kapinsky hit a clutch shot to put Waterbury within six. At the end of the first half, Yavneh led 25-19.

Yavneh scored first in the second quarter, but the Wolfpack had a chance to get two points of their own with Eliezer Shulman at the line. Waterbury missed the two free throws to put them at a miserable 1 for 7 from the charity stripe. Yavneh capitalized on Waterbury’s errors after Adam Schor made two more buckets to improve his third quarter total to six. Then Jason Epstein made two free throws and Adam Schor scored two more times to put the Bulldogs up 37-19. With five minutes gone by in the third, the Wolfpack finally scored when Dovid Schilller made a bucket. Yavneh continued to score and went up by twenty points follwing an Adam Schor fast break dunk. At the end of the third, the Bulldogs were winning 43-22 led by Adam Schor’s 12 points.

Itai Guttman scored the first bucket of the quarter, but soon after picked up his fourth foul and was taken out of the game. Waterbury finally started to hit their free throws going 3 for 4, but Yavneh still lead by twenty two. Both teams exchanged free throws, but the Wolfpack turned it over again and Sam Kleinman made the easy layup. With two minutes left in the game, Yavneh continued to pull away after Adam Steinbrecher hit from downtown. Both teams scored to end the game with the final score 55-31 in favor of the Bulldogs. Adam Schor led the way for Yavneh with 14 points, while Nafti Gruenberg led the Wolfpack with 5 points.