Falcon's Nest Notes: Late Second-Half Scoring Drought Dooms Varsity Falcons

Against a quality opponent, the Varsity Boys Basketball team brought the energy and focus it was lacking the last time out, and played one of its top competitors even for most of the night. But, a late offensive power outage gave the guest DRS Wildcats the breathing room they needed, and the Falcons could not recover, dropping their second consecutive home game by a score of 46-36.

DRS scored off the opening tip on a practiced play, and a short time in were enjoying a 5-0 lead. It looked like the Falcons scoring woes from the previous game would continue, but Senior Forward Allan Maleh provided some scoring punch, knocking down two big baskets, and by the end of the 1st Quarter, the score stood even at 7-7.

It looked to be an even match, and though the Falcons could not get a hold on the lead, they were never far back, keeping pace with the Wildcats. DRS would pull ahead; the Falcons would claw back. DRS looked to establish inside dominance, but they were battled underneath by Flatbush big men Mayer Kamkhatchi and David Dayan. And, Flatbush’s trademark pressure defense caused its usual quota of turnovers and drew a plethora of fouls on DRS. The score reflected the balance of play, and the teams went into the intermission with DRS holding on to a slim 21-18 lead.

A quick three from Flatbush Co-Captain Bobby Soffer brought the Falcons even, and a few possessions later, the score flipped from Flatbush playing from slightly behind to the Wildcats struggling to play catch-up. The play on both ends was fast and furious, and when Flatbush went up 27-25 and took possession of the ball, it looked like they might break the game open. But the opposite occurred. Uncharacteristically, the Falcon offense was careless with the ball, resulting in empty possessions. To compound things, the team went on a prolonged scoring drought. When they finally got the offense back on track, the damage was done. By the time Flatbush scored again, there Was only 3:30 left in the final period, and the Falcons were down 37-29.

The never-say-die attitude of these Falcons came to the fore, and they battled the rest of the way, but could never close to less than 6, and when the dust finally settled, Flatbush was left on the short end of a ten-point deficit.

Flatbush battled hard, but in the end, too many turnovers and not enough scoring doomed the Falcons.

Nest Notes:

The Falcons top scorers on the night were Bobby Soffer (10 points), Sam Silverman (7 points) and Allan Maleh (6 points). Flatbush shot a horrendous 4-13 from the foul line, including 1-6 in the 4th Quarter.

The Varsityy Falcons now have a week to regroup before welcoming in Derech Ha-Torah for a Divisional match up at the Falcons Nest next Saturday night (11/8).