The Yavneh Bulldogs made history Saturday night when they beat Rosehill Christian 50-35 in the championship game of the TAPPS 3A playoffs, becoming the first Jewish school in the country to win a state championship.
The win was the 18th straight for Yavneh (31-3) the year’s longest streak in Jewish Hoops America where they are ranked #14. The Bulldogs’ season isn’t over though as they’ll compete in the 29th annual Sarachek Tournament at Yeshiva University March 12-16.
It was the fourth straight year that Yavneh played in the state Final Four and their second appearance in the championship game.
They entered the tournament with an opening round bye as the #1 seed in 3A and lived up to the billing with convincing wins over Denton Calvary and Faith Academy in the second and third rounds to make it to the Final Four. In Friday’s semifinal in Robinson, TX, Yavneh beat Midland Classical 68-56 behind Jason Prager’s 21 points, avenging a loss to Midland in last year’s semifinal.
On Saturday night in West, the Bulldogs led almost the whole game, taking a 9-point lead into halftime and slowly extending it in the second half. The margin grew to 17 points midway through the fourth quarter as the Kennel faithful began celebrating. Jonah Eber led the way with 17 points and Mason Schwaber added 12. Eber, Schwaber, Prager and Tyler Winton were named to the All Tournament team.
In the same building, Beren Houston sought their own state title in the TAPPS 1A championship but came up short 50-33 to Trinity. The loss snapped an 11-game win streak for the Stars, who ended the season 19-4.
Beren had previously been in the final in 2012, the year they sued to avoid a forfeit and forced TAPPS to alter its tournament schedule to accommodate the team’s Shabbat observance.