Rambam RAVENS fly high; knock out YULA PANTHERS 63-59!

After two surprise losses to lower seeded teams earlier in the tournament, the YULA Panthers and the Rambam Ravens were looking to gain back some respect and show they earned their initial high seeding.

As the first quarter began Azose quickly scored the first basket of the game for the Ravens. Schlange scored YULA’s first basket with a nice 3 pointer from way behind the arc. The Ravens continued their smooth but fast paced offense, grabbing rebounds on both sides of the court and keeping their possessions alive for more baskets. Azose sank a pair of free throws from the line, to finish up the first quarter with the Ravens in the lead, a score of 15-23.

Azose carried his hot streak into the second quarter, opening up with a 3 point shot for the Ravens.  Schlange hit a 3- pointer for the Panthers, right before Rambam called the first time out of the game to try and regain momentum. YULA’s lack of rebounding was making it nearly impossible for them to mount a comeback. Meisels scored the last points of the half for the Panthers with a foul shot, but it would take more than that to make a dent in the Ravens lead. At the half, the score was 22-40, as Rambam looked to continue to dominate.

Fallas fouled out early for YULA in the second half, and it was a loss they could not afford. Silvera scored a 3 point side shot for the Panthers as they looked to mount a comeback, but Goldberg became the second foul casualty as he committed his fifth foul of the game and was exiled from the court. With YULA missing two key players, despite chipping away at Rambam’s lead, things looked bleak for the Panthers heading into the 4th. The score at the end of the 3rd quarter was 41-53, Rambam in the lead.

At the start of the final quarter, Sasoon forced a turnover for the Ravens and finished with a nice layup followed by a a jump shot just behind the arc. Then, the tide began to turn. The Ravens began getting sloppy on defense, allowing the Panthers to grab their rebounds and threatening the Raven’s lead. Meisels scored a jump shot close to the basket for the Panthers, closing in on the Ravens, reducing their lead to only 1 point. Both teams were out of timeouts with 3 minutes left in the game. In a controversial call, the ref called a technical foul on the coach for Rambam, letting Schlange take the lead for the panthers for the first time in the game with 2 foul shots. But the Ravens finished strong. Azose made it a tie game with a foul shot with one minute left in the game. Aaron sealed the deal for Rambam’s victory with two foul shots. With only 5 seconds left on the clock, YULA had no chance for a comeback. The final score was 59-63 and the leading scorers for YULA and Rambam are Sassoon with 15 points and Azose with a whopping 34, respectively.

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