NYHS basketball teams brought home wins for their home opener at Seattle Hebrew Academy on Saturday, December 6.
Junior varsity Lions played Issaquah’s Summit Classical Christian School’s Archers and defeated them at 56–51. The Varsity Lions played the Grace Academy Eagles from Marysville and crushed them at 91–48.
Sophomore Marcus Sandorffy tipped for the JV Lions, and Tiger Ridenhon tipped for the Archers at 6:30 pm. The Lions won the tipoff and the first quarter, at 14-12. They continued on this winning streak throughout the game, at 31-22 by halftime and 41-31 at the end of the third quarter.
“This team had some trash talk for us last year and beat us,” said JV co-captain Jonah Negrin. “And we came out with the win.”
Last year, the JV Lions lost to the Archers 44–32.
The varsity game began at 8pm. Andrew Kaplan, NYHS English and music teacher, played the Israeli national anthem Hatikva and the Star-Spangled Banner on his violin. Senior Sam Chernicoff tipped for the Lions, winning the tipoff and then the first quarter at 19-8. By halftime the Lions were at 43-21.
The varsity Lions continued on a run of success, ending the third quarter at 65-33. They won the game at 91-48. Chernicoff scored 22 points, making him the top scorer for the varsity game. Senior Charlie Feuer scored 11 points, a career high.
“It was really special to me that [Charlie’s] teammates cheered as hard for him as anyone else on the team,” said varsity coach Steve Bunin. “Our home opener went about as well as we could have hoped.”
During both games, the broadcasting club set up and attempted to stream to the network, but they were missing some wires they needed. Broadcasting club member Audrey Hoffman said they will stream at the JV and varsity boys’ games on Tuesday night. Both teams will be playing Pope John Paul II from Lacey at Seattle Hebrew Academy. JV will play at 5:45pm, and varsity will play at 7:15pm. It is available on NFHS at NFHS Network.
The stands were packed for both games to the point of people having to stand in the doorway of the gym because there were no seats. The crowd erupted at every shot made.
“There was a strong supportive energy,” said NYHS senior Keira Birk.
Bunin feels positive about the season. He says both teams have promising players and have shown improvement.
Varsity co-captain Evan Kaufthal agrees. “We still have a few things to work out,” he said. “But our team clearly has a new identity. We displayed amazing passing and team work.”
