Opening the varsity boys basketball game against rival Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy, CESJDS Head of School Mitchel Malkus paid tribute to former lower school principal, Mathew Bellas z”l, by dedicating the game to him. Malkus explained how the Lions wore warm-up shirts featuring a tribute to Bellas. On the back of the warm-ups was the phrase “Ask a good question, learn something new and be kind to everyone.” This phrase was put on the warm-ups to honor Bellas as he would end his announcements to students every morning with these words.
On Jan. 11, the JDS varsity boys basketball team fell to the Berman Cougars 56-43 at Berman. As the game began, Berman used aggressive defense early on, including a full-court press to help them get transition layups and take an early lead over the Lions.
As the Lions settled into the game, their defense improved, and with a block by junior Jakob Lipsky, sophomore Dylan Shank received the ball and scored a layup to give JDS their first points. Junior Leo Steindecker then posted up in the paint and scored a layup, giving the Lions a lead over the Cougars for the first time this season.
Coming into the game, boys varsity basketball head coach Ryan Eskow was confident that he could use his team’s previous loss to Berman as a learning experience, and a way to improve.
“Everything is a learning experience, and everything we do builds to our final goal,” Eskow said. “So I wanted to take this game and learn from it, no matter what happened, to improve our process in the future.”
Berman was aggressive on the defensive and offensive end, as the Cougars made many offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities to score points.
After a timeout from Eskow, the Lions responded to Berman’s aggressiveness, ending the first quarter down 12-9, a vast improvement from their previous game this season against the Cougars, where the first quarter ended with Berman leading 23-9.
Junior Caden Mont scored a basket to open the second quarter, but the Cougars quickly responded with a seven-point run and more full-court press defense, forcing Eskow to take another timeout. Following this timeout, freshman Theo Pearlman entered the game for the Lions and immediately made a pair of three-pointers, which injected energy into the team and fans alike. At the end of the first half, the Cougars led 29-19.
Pearlman has provided a boost off the bench all year for the Lions, and against the Cougars it was no different. He also believes there were still parts of the game that the Lions need to work on.
“Just trusting each other a little more would’ve allowed us to be better this game,” Pearlman said. “There were some points where we were hesitant to pass the ball to each other, but I feel like the more we trust in each other, the better we play.”
To start the third quarter, Berman continued with a full-court press, and they also came out strong on offense with multiple baskets, including a three-pointer from Berman junior Alex August. Even after a three-pointer from Shank and a pair of free throws from Steindecker, Berman held a 44-29 lead going into the final quarter. The Lions did not go down easily and they showed fight in the fourth quarter, something Steindecker has seen from them all year.
“I thought we had great resilience,” Steindecker said. “We never let up, and we bounced back at the end of the third [quarter] and in the fourth quarter. Our shots weren’t falling, but we had their number in the fourth [quarter], and we never got rattled, which was key.”
To begin the fourth quarter, Steindecker had a steal and a pass to junior Jesse Fisher for an and-one basket. After both teams exchanged shots, the Lions were down 10 points with two minutes remaining. The Lions attempted to come back with a full-court press at the end of the game, but the Cougars held them off, sweeping the season series.
Steindecker was not discouraged by his team’s performance, and he thinks it was a positive step for them to build on.
“We played extremely hard in the fourth quarter, really fighting back, and we won that fourth quarter,” Steindecker said. “So we need to take this momentum and just play harder every single game, and have that fourth quarter mentality for every game we play from here on out.
