11-2-2013 | Panthers Upend Rams, 49-39 move into Invitational Final

11-2-2013 | Panthers Upend Rams, 49-39 move into Invitational Final

By: Efraim Wiener

In this amazing, intense, Saturday night matchup, the #2 Ramaz School Rams faced the #3 Yeshiva University of Los Angeles Panthers in an epic showdown for the right to play in the Cooper Invitational Championship Game. The tip went to YULA, and on the first possession Adam Liber of YULA made a very smooth layup. However, Daniel Berg of Ramaz answered with a shot from the side. Then Adam Liber drained a three-pointer and Menachem Solomon of YULA made a swift fast-break layup. Later, Liber answered with a second amazing three-pointer. Solomon followed up by grabbing a loose ball and then acrobatically laying the ball in. Almost all of the points Ramaz scored in the first quarter came from the charity stripe. By the end of the first quarter, YULA was up by ten points.

As the second quarter got underway, YULA started with the ball. They were unable to score on the first possession, but after Ramaz gained possession of the ball, they scored in the paint to inch closer to the Panthers. Towards the middle of the quarter, Solomon was fouled and in an amazing play, he spun the ball fantastically into the hoop. A few minutes later, Asher Remer of YULA passed the ball straight into the hands of his teammate Daniel Tzion who made the easy bucket. Later, Ariel Sokol of YULA made a jump shot to end the half. At halftime, the score was 22-10, with YULA leading the way.

At the start of the third quarter, YULA brought the ball up the court. They were unable to score on the first few possessions, but Adam Liber drew the foul and went to the free-throw line. He missed the first free throw, but made the second one. Ramaz scored early in the third quarter, courtesy of Jamie Cappell who drained a three-pointer and David Tahari made a shot. A minute later, Ramaz scored a shot in the paint. However, YULA maintained their lead and Josiah Himmelman made some free-throws. Later, with 2:22 left in the quarter, Cappell drained another three-pointer. With a minute left, Daniel Berg was fouled and made the layup and the ensuing free-throw. By the end of the third quarter, Ramaz had crept up from behind and was only behind by five points and was ready to make a game of things.

The fourth quarter started with Ramaz bringing the ball up. The ball went to YULA and Moshe Willner scored, which brought YULA’s lead up to seven. Later Himmelman made a major block, which led to a three-pointer by Daniel Tzion. Noam Tobin- Hess of Ramaz answered back with a three of his own. With four and a half minutes left in the game, Solomon was fouled and managed to make both free-throws. Noam Tobin-Hess again answered with a three-pointer, which made it a five-point game, with YULA on top. Ariel Sokol got fouled with a minute and a half left, and he made two clutch free-throws. One minute later, Tzion was fouled, yet he still made the shot to extend YULA’s lead. By the end of the game, two players on Ramaz had fouled out, and YULA took the win with a final score of 49-39. The Panthers were led by Menachem Solomon and Adam Liber who each had 12 points. The Rams were led by Noam Tobin who had 16 points in a losing effort. YULA advances to the Cooper Invitational Championship Game for the third time in 4 years, while Ramaz finds itself in the Tier 1 3rd place game playing the CJHS Tigers.