It took Valley Torah 27 tries to win their first title at the Yeshiva University Sarachek Tournament. And just one attempt to win their second.
The Wolfpack overcame poor first-half shooting and a 12-point deficit to beat SAR 56-48 to win the 30th annual tournament and become the fourth team to repeat as champions.
Johny Dan scored 17 points, Gabriel R’Bibo added 15 and Ethan List had 13 points and Dan and Noam Mayouhas were named the first co-MVPs at Sarachek. Akiva Schanzer had 20 points to lead the Sting and was named 1st Team All Tournament.
SAR, seeded 5th, opened the tournament with a tough win over #12 Mekor Chaim and then dispatched #4 Frisch in the quarterfinals, avenging two regular season losses. The Sting then beat top-seeded Shalhevet in a nailbiter in the semifinals, becoming the first Jewish team to beat the Firehawks all season.
Valley Torah was seeded #2 and won easily in their opening games against #15 TABC and #10 Katz Yeshiva High School. Their semifinal matchup against rival #6 YULA was closer but the Wolfpack weathered a 2nd half comeback by the Panthers to win by 10.
The championship game was a different story. The Sting raced out to a 10-3 start, led by as many as 12 late in the first quarter and relied on balanced scoring from Schanzer, Benny Neuwirth, Andrew Helft and Jonah Sokol to build a 29-18 lead midway through the second. But a 10-0 run in a minute and a half - two R’bibo layups and three-pointers from Dan and List - cut the Sting lead to one and that was SAR’s slim margin at the end of the half.
Late in the third quarter Valley Torah got a backdoor layup and a tip in, both from Rbibo, for a 41-37 lead, their first lead since 3-2. SAR could get no closer than four points in the final quarter.
Other teams who have won back-to-back Sarachek titles are Rambam-NY (1996,1997); YULA (2000, 2001) and Shalhevet (2018, 2019).
The Fuchs Mizrachi Mayhem beat the DRS Wildcats to win the Tier 2 title, their best Sarachek finish. And the JEC Thunder defeated the Kohelet Kings to win Tier 3.
SARACHEK ORDER OF FINISH
1.Valley Torah
2.SAR
3.YULA
4.Shalhevet
5.Frisch
6.Katz YHS
7.Magen David
8.North Shore H.A.
9.Fuchs Mizrachi (Tier 2 1st Place)
10.DRS
11.Berman H.A.
12.TABC
13.Ida Crown
14.H.A. Miami
15.Fasman Yeshiva
16.Mekor Chaim
17.JEC (Tier 3 1st Place)
18.Kohelet
19.Mesivta
20.MTA
21.Maimonides, Or Chaim
23.Cooper Memphis, Farber Detroit
(Scheduling issues meant Maimonides and Or Chaim could not play for Tier 3 5th Place and Cooper and Farber could not play for 7th Place)
ALL STARS
Shlomo Applebaum, Fasman Yeshiva
Alex August, Berman H.A.
Netanel Benloulou, TABC
Eitan Bessler, Maimonides
Aiden Buchbinder, DRS
Erez Epstein, Berman H.A.
Andrew Helft, SAR
Levi Kalvari, Or Chaim Toronto
Ethan List, Valley Torah
Gideon Lopatin, Farber
Benny Neuwirth, SAR
David Orbach, North Shore H.A.
Daniel Pollack, H.A. Miami
Gabriel R’Bibo, Valley Torah
Jon Rosen, Mekor Chaim
Yishai Rosenblatt, YULA
Gavriel Rudman, MTA
Ari Saffra, DRS
Akiva Sapieka, JEC
Nathan Sellam, Shalhevet
Adiel Sharvit, Fuchs Mizrachi
Ephraim Shmidman, Mesivta
Eli Wallace, Kohelet
DR Wogan, Cooper Memphis
Jakob Wortman, Ida Crown
Alex Zakheim, Frisch
2nd TEAM ALL-TOURNAMENT
Max Mogyoros, Mesivta
Ben Farkas, H.A. Miami
Isaac Schiffman, Frisch
Asher Rosen, Katz YHS
Netanel Jacobs, Fuchs Mizrachi
1st TEAM ALL-TOURNAMENT
Asher Melamed, Magen David
Avi Halpert, Shalhevet
Alex Gabbay, YULA
Akiva Schanzer, SAR
Noam Mayouhas, Valley Torah
Johny Dan, Valley Torah
Tier 3 MVP: Yosef Heller, JEC
Tier 2 MVP: Ephraim Blau, Fuchs Mizrachi
Tournament MVP: Johny Dan, Noam Mayouhas, Valley Torah
TOP SCORING AVERAGES
Player………………………..Team…………………GM……..Pts……..Avg
Max Mogyoros............Mesivta.................4........…87.........21.8
Johny Dan.................….Valley Torah.........4..........87......…21.8
Isaac Schiffman...........Frisch..............…….4...........78..........19.5
Ephraim Shmidman....Mesivta..............…4............77..........19.3
Gavriel Rudman...........MTA...................….4.........…76..........19.0
Asher Melamed...........Magen David......4............74..........18.5
Nathan Sellam..............Shalhevet.........…4............71............17.8
Akiva Schanzer.............SAR..................….4............69............17.3
Ben Farkas................….H.A. Miami..........4.........….69.......….17.3
Ephraim Blau................Fuchs Mizrachi 5............86............17.2
TOP SCORING GAMES
42, Johny Dan, Valley Torah vs Katz YHS
31, Nathan Sellam, Shalhevet vs Magen David
29, Gavriel Rudman, MTA vs Kohelet
28, Jon Rosen, Mekor Chaim vs SAR
27, Gavriel Rudman, MTA vs H.A. Miami
26, Netanel Jacobs, Fuchs Mizrachi vs Fasman Yeshiva
26, Alex August, Berman H.A. vs Mekor Chaim
26, Avi Halpert, Shalhevet vs MTA
25, Ephraim Shmidman, Mesivta vs MTA
25, Nathan Sellam, Shalhevet vs YULA
25, Eli Wallace, Kohelet vs Berman H.A.
25, Ben Farkas, H.A. Miami vs MTA
25, Shlomo Applebaum, Fasman Yeshiva vs Maimonides
