With a first-round win already under its belt, the JV Boys Basketball team came in to their MYHSAL quarterfinal matchup with the HANC Hurricanes with renewed confidence and sharpened focus. Coupled with the strong support of the home fans, the JV Falcons took care of business, sending the visitors home by a score of 49-39.
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| Playoff Pre-game: Players stand at attention for the Star-Spangled banner & Hatikvah |
From the outset, the JV Boys showed this game would have a different tone from the opening round contest with Rambam. Running the offense with precision, the Falcons tallied points on their first three possessions. Showing patience and experience, the Falcons were methodical early on and in addition to having some early scoring success, they also managed to draw fouls from the Hurricanes’ top playmakers through powerful drives to the basket by Louis Zarif, Jackie Mishaan and Kevin Haddad. So while HANC hung tough, Flatbush sent an early message that the offense came to play. But as has been the hallmark of the boys’ basketball program all season, the team’s strength was anchored in its defense. The starting group of guards, Zarif, Haddad and Elliot Beyda provided a blanket of pressure that made it difficult for HANC to get in any kind of offensive rhythm all night. Coupled with the shut-down defense of Jake Shalom off the bench, the Falcons were able to dictate much of the flow of the game.
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| Flatbush shot 83% from the free-throw line |
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| Kevin Haddad shoots a jumper |
But as strong as the guard play was at both ends of the court, the keys to the Falcon victory came from two distinct areas, one of which was spotty all season and the other of which has come along strong as a team stalwart of late. First, the JV boys converted free-throws at a near-perfect rate. In fact, the team shot a phenomenal 19-of-23 for the game, and while three of the four misses were front ends of 1-and-1’s late in the game, the earlier successes from the charity stripe helped the team build a nice little cushion to protect the lead late in the game. Second, David Dayan had a breakout game on the defensive end. While HANC clearly held a height advantage over the Falcons, Dayan dominated in the defensive paint. With deft body control, Dayan rejected shot after shot from the Hurricanes without committing the fouls that would limit his play earlier in the season. With Dayan’s presence and Mishaan’s jumping ability, the Falcon defenders effectively negated the Hurricane’s height advantage. As a result, every time HANC looked to mount a charge to overtake the Falcons, the defense tightened to deny the guests from Long Island.
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| David Dayan and Yoel Goldberg deny the HANC offense |
In the end, the Falcons closed out the Hurricanes, sealed the 10-point victory and secured a date in the MYHSAL JV Semi-finals in March!
Nest Notes:
The Falcons were paced by Kevin Haddad, who scored 14 points on the night, including 8-9 from the free-throw line. David Dayan collected an astounding career-high 10 blocked shots against the Hurricanes.
With Flatbush and DRS having both advanced from the Brooklyn and Long Island Divisions with identical records, a coin-flip was conducted by the League offices to determine which of the two schools would host a semi-final game and which would have to play the next round on the road. Flatbush won the coin-toss, and will host SAR in the MYHSAL Semifinal round. The game will be played on Wednesday, March 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 pm. Come early and cheer loudly for your Flatbush Falcons!