Cooper Invitational

11-9-2014 | Kohelet Kings Cage JDS Lions, 43-38

11-9-2014 | Kohelet Kings Cage JDS Lions, 43-38

By: Shmuel Perl

The 2014 Cooper Invitational Tier II Third Place game featured the #5 Kohelet Kings and the #2 JDS Lions. Caleb Gerhshengorn made the first basket of the game to give the Lions the first lead of the game. On the other end, Aaron Simmens hit a three and Erez Galfand made a shot in the post to put Kohelet up three. Galfand hit two free throws and Simmens made a layup to make it a seven point gamein favor of the Kings. Jesse Blumenthal hit from downtown for Kohelet, but Danny Kuhnreich came right back with jumper for JDS. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 12-4 Kohelet.

Caleb Gerhshengorn hit a jumper and made a fast break layup to put the Lions within four at the start of the second. Gabi Swagel converted a three point play, but an Ian Schwartz put back still kept Kohelet in front. Schwartz scored again, and Ben Kaplan sunk a floater off the glass to extend Kohelet’s lead to seven. Ari Weiss hit a three and Aviv Yarimi banked a jumper to put Kohelet up double digits. Nadav Kalander scored for JDS near the end of the second, to make the score 23-13 at halftime.

Harry Esses made a layup and Jesse Blumenthal made a three, but JDS responded with six points to make it a nine point game. Both teams scored, and a Lior Cohen jumper made the score 32-21 in favor of the Kings at the end of the third quarter.

Aaron Simmens started the third with a three point play for Kohelet, and a Noam Lipschutz jumper put the Kings up 14. Nathan Schachter then scored for JDS. Kohelet scored again, but Brett Halpern of JDS responded with a three on the other end. Kohelet came back with a 4-0 run, but Halpern once again responded with a three. Josh Abramowitz had an athletic finish and Danny Kuhnreich made a clutch three to put JDS within six with just 11 seconds left. The crazy comeback continued, as Brett Halpern hit a corner three to make it a three point game.

Kohelet inbounded the ball and was quickly fouled by JDS. With 2.4 seconds left, Noam Lipschutz went to the line, but missed the free throw and gave JDS one last opportunity to tie. The Lions called timeout and drew up a play, hoping to send the game to OT. The inbound pass sailed out of bounds and two Noam Lipschutz free throws sealed the game for Kings. The final score was 43-38 Kohelet, who finished third in Tier II. The high scorer for Kohelet was Aaron Simmens with 10 points, while Brett Halpern paced the JDS Lions with 9 points.

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