11-2-2013 | Stars Take Down Tigers 61-50, Move into Invitational Championship Game

11-2-2013 | Stars Take Down Tigers 61-50, Move into Invitational Championship Game

By: Shmuel Meir Perl

The first Tier 1 semi-final game of the evening featured a rematch of the 2012 Cooper Invitational Championship Game between the #1 Chicagoland Jewish High School Tigers and the #4 seed North Shore Hebrew Academy Stars. North Shore had defeated the RASG Warriors and the JDS Lions to make it to the semis, while the Tigers had defeated the Yeshiva Atlanta Lions and Yavneh Academy Bulldogs. Josh Cohen of North Shore scored in the opening seconds of the game to give the Stars the quick lead. Then, the Tigers took the lead after Jeremy Goodman and Josh Silverman each made layups. After two North Shore free throws, Josh Silverman hit from downtown to put the Tigers up 7-4. Both teams scored again, and CJHS made a couple of free throws to go up by six. Both teams traded baskets again, and at the end of the first quarter, the score was 18-12 in favor of the Tigers.

CJHS started the second quarter well with an Avidan Halivni put back basket, but two Josh Newlander turnovers kept North Shore in the game. CJHS scored two more times, but six Cody Cohen points cut the lead down to six. Then, Avery Lubin of North Shore hit a three-pointer to make it 24-21, but a steal and a layup by Jeremy Goodman extended the Tigers’ lead to five. After that, CJHS outscored North Shore 5-4, but with seven seconds left North Shore got the ball. After an offensive rebound and a kick out, Michael Zborowski chucked the ball up with .6 seconds left and banked it in to make the score 31-29 in favor of the Tigers at halftime.

Josh Newlander started out the second half with a baseline jumper to give CJHS a four point lead. Then, Avery Lubin started the scoring for the Stars with a transition layup. The Tigers countered with a 4-1 run to put them up by three points, but two more North Shore baskets made it 36-35 in their favor. With fifteen seconds left in the third quarter, Avery Lubin hit a corner three to make the score 39-37 for North Shore which set everything up for an exciting finish to this game.

North Shore started out the fourth quarter with a Cody Cohen layup and a Josh Cohen free throw to put them up by five. After a putback by Cody Cohen, Josh Silverman hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to four. After a missed shot by the Tigers, Josh Cohen spun his way to a three point play. Then, Cody Cohen scored two more times, and Josh Cohen made a fastbreak layup to put North Shore up by thirteen. Josh Silverman made a three-pointer to stop the bleeding for the Tigers, but North Shore scored again to make it a twelve point game. The Tigers, wanting to prove they still had fight in them, went on a 5-0 run led by the shooting of guard Josh Silverman to get within 7 points. But clutch free throw shooting by North Shore down the stretch sealed the game for them with the final score being 61-50 North Shore. The win by the Stars put them into the Cooper Invitational Championship Game for the second year in a row. The loss by the Tigers sent them into the Tier 1 3rd place game to await the loser of the YULA/ Ramaz game. The high scorer for North Shore was Cody Cohen with 20 points and the high scorer for CJHS was Josh Silverman with 24 points.