11-6-2014 | YULA Panthers cool off Hillel Heat, 56-45

11-6-2014 | YULA Panthers cool off Hillel Heat, 56-45

By: Shmuel Perl

In the sixth game of the day, the defending champion YULA Panthers faced off against the Hilllel Heat, from Deal, New Jersey. YULA won the tip, and after turnovers by both teams, hit an early three to take the lead. But Hillel came firing back, and took a 4-3 lead behind baskets by Robert Tobias and Nathan Bibi. Daniel Hami hit a three for YULA, but another Bibi basket tied it back up. A Sam Askenazi three put the Heat up 9-6 at the end of a quarter that saw a lot of fouls, a lot of turnovers, and some poorly played basketball.

Hillel opened up the scoring in the second quartergoing on a 4-1 run, but a Daniel Tzion three-point play cut the Heat’s lead back to three. Tzion then hit a corner three to tie up the game, but Nathan Bibi responded with a three of his own for Hillel. Motti Zilberstein responded with six points to give YULA its first lead of the game. As the quarter winded down, both teams hit their stride, but YULA held on to its lead and was up 25-22 at halftime.

Albert Cohen hit a free throw to give Hillel the first points of the second half, but a YULA layup and another Daniel Tzion three gave the Panthers a seven point lead. Both teams scored again, but a Shimon Benharroch layup made the score 34-25, and forced Hillel to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, YULA forced another turnover and a Motti Zilberstein three-point play gave YULA a double digit lead. YULA kept on scoring, and led by Daniel Hami, went up 16. The Heat then went on a 3-0 run to end the quarter, but YULA was still way ahead, leading 41-28.

YULA started the fourth quarter with a Noam Posner basket, but Gordon Adelson and Albert Cohen responded with three point plays for Hillel to cut the lead to single digits. Nathan Bibi continued the scoring for Hillel, and an Albert Cohen short jumper cut YULA’s lead to five. Both teams scored twice, and a Daniel Tzion layup extended YULA’s lead to seven with two minutes left in the game. With a minute forty left Tzion, YULA’s star player, was called for a charge and fouled out of the game. Luckily for the Panthers, Motti Zilberstein picked up the slack, scoring seven points in the final minute. Although, an Isaac Beda three briefly cut the lead to five, YULA pulled it out in the end. The final score was 56-45 YULA. The high scorer for YULA was Motti Zilberstein with 22 points, and Nathan Bibi led the way for Hillel with 15 points.