11-3-2013 | Rams clinch 3rd place in Cooper Invitational, Defeat Tigers 76-60

11-3-2013 | Rams clinch 3rd place in Cooper Invitational, Defeat Tigers 76-60

By: Shmuel Meir Perl

In an exciting battle for Tier I third place, the #1 Chicago Community Tigers faced off against the second seeded Ramaz Rams. Both teams had been upset in the previous night’s games and were looking to end their trip to Memphis with a win. With star guard Josh Newlander out with injury, the rest of the Tigers needed to pick up the slack, and Hillel Schwartz answered the call with drive and a layup to give the Tigers an early lead. Daniel Berg responded with two layups in a row to make the score 4-2 Rams. Ramaz continued to score, going on a 6-0 run behind center Gabe Roth. Then both teams scored, and at the end of the first the score was 12-4 Ramaz.

Ramaz started the second quarter on a 6-2 run, but an Evan Gorstein three put the Tigers within nine. The Rams extended their lead back two double digits after two James Weiss free throws and a Jack Tauber layup. With five minutes gone by, both teams scored again. But a Ramaz layup and an Evan Gorenstein three pointer made it a 26-14 game. Daniel Berg responded with four points to give Ramaz a fifteen point lead. Finally, Daniel Berg hit a layup with one second left in the half to make the score at halftime 32-15.

Simon Jeal opened the third with two free throws for Ramaz, and Daniel Berg followed up with a jumper. Both teams scored again, but four more Daniel Berg points put Ramaz up twenty five. Then both teams scored two more times, and Eli Amzallag hit a free throw. Then the Tigers countered with a 14-8 run of their own powered by great outside shooting to cut the lead to nineteen. After a Tigers free throw, Ramaz hit a transition layup to make the score 55-35 Rams at the end of the third quarter.

The Tigers started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run behind Josh Silverman and Avidan Halivni. After some back and forth action with no scoring, Hillel Schwartz converted on a three point play to cut the lead to thirteen. With four minutes remaining in the fourth, Ramaz scored its first basket off of an Aaron Cohen layup. Both teams scored two more times, and a Josh Silverman three cut the lead to thirteen. The Tigers kept scoring, going on a 4-0 run to make the score 65-56 Ramaz. With less than a minute left in the game both teams scored again, but a wide open layup by Bennet Epstein sealed the game and a third place finish for the Rams. The final score was 76-60 Ramaz, moving the Tigers down to 4th place. The high scorer for Ramaz was Daniel Berg with 30 points and the high scorer for CJ was Josh Silverman with 14.