MTA Lions Win Sarachek Tier III Championship

Five games in five days. Beginning on Thursday morning, March 24th and going all the way until Monday afternoon, March 28th, Sarachek 2022 was in full swing. The MTA Lions started their quest for a championship facing off against the eventual Tier 1 Champions, the Valley Torah Wolfpack. The Lions were in for a tough one. Valley Torah, #2 rank, was coming off a strong 30-4 season led by Johnny Dan. MTA, #15 rank, looked to pull a St. Peter’s Peacocks and upset the 2 seed as the 15 seed. The task would be difficult, but anything can happen in March. The Lions came out strong and energetic with quick buckets by Donny Book (‘22), but quickly saw their lead decrease. The Lions fought hard throughout, but couldn’t overcome a 17 point 15 rebound performance from Johnny Dan, and lost the game 49-38. MTA found themselves in Tier 3 after dropping their next game against Hillel, but did not change their championship mindset. The Lions blew past Hebrew Academy of Montreal and Maimonides to advance to the championship against the HAFTR Hawks. After finding themselves down 9-2 with just 2 and a half minutes of game in, Coach Ushie Selevan called a timeout. The Lions came back and made it a close game going into halftime with big time shots from Yosef Shmuel (‘22). Exiting the locker room up 3 wasn’t enough for the Lions. Exiting the locker room with a win was exactly what they wanted. After giving up a pair of 3’s to start the second half, MTA answered with an 8-0 run, giving them a 6 point lead. Late in the game, Gavriel Rudman (‘23) hit a ridiculous layup, jumping and reversing in the air to put the Lions up 1 with 12.4 seconds remaining. A Hawks timeout was immediately used to draw up a play, but nothing was executed due to Dani Wolk (‘22) forcing a backcourt violation, regaining possession of the ball for the Lions. MTA ran a beautiful inbounds play and Abie Schwartz (‘22) was immediately fouled after getting the ball. A smart missed free throw for Schwartz from the line forced a bad shot by HAFTR, closing out the win for the Lions. Seniors Abie Schwartz and Donny Book were both honored at the 2022 Sarachek Awards Ceremony. Abie Schwartz (‘22) was named the 2022 Tier 3 MVP, and Donny Book (‘22) was named a Sarachek 2022 Tournament All-Star. The Lions took home the Tier 3 trophy, etching themselves in the history books as the first yeshiva high school to win championships at the Sarachek tournament 3 years in a row.