Second Annual Yeshiva League Pass–Yeshiva League All Star Games a Success
- Yeshiva League Pass
- Apr 5
- 4 min read
On Wednesday, April 2nd, Yeshiva League Pass, in coordination with Yeshivah of Flatbush and sponsored by Camp Seneca Lake, held their second annual JV and Varsity All Star Games at the Sephardic Center in Brooklyn. 12 all stars from each of the conferences on both the JV and Varsity levels–48 in all–competed in what was an enjoyable event to close out the 2024-25 basketball season.
Stats from the games can be found here.
Every All Star sported a brilliantly designed jersey, sponsored by Camp Seneca Lake; the eastern conference wore red, and the western conference donned blue. The uniforms featured the Camp Seneca Lake logo on the top left, the word All Star, a star within which the Yeshiva League Pass logo was displayed, and “2025” on the bottom, with the Flatbush Falcon logo taking the place of the “0”. Each player’s name and number were put on the back.
The JV contest saw a very balanced attack from the western conference, as 7 players scored between 7 and 14 points; while the eastern conference’s output was more polarized, with just 2 players scoring more than 6 points. The western conference led wire to wire, although the east did stick around and provide numerous challenges. At the intermission, the west held a 40-34 advantage, with Noah Hiltzik’s 9 points leading the way for the west at halftime, while Judah Suss and Max Weiss had 7 and 6 first half points, respectively. Elisha Tsaidi tallied 10 early points to spear the east’s attack, while HANC’s Ruby Tilis added 8 of his own through two quarters.
In the second half of the JV game, the lead stayed between 5 and 11 points throughout. Every time the east cut the deficit back down to 5 or 6, the west responded. An incredible 40-foot pass for a layup against the east’s trap from Weiss to his SAR teammate Nathan Wild with 45 seconds left sealed the deal, and the west went on to ice the game at the free throw line. The final score of the JV contest was 77-66.
25 minutes later, the varsity game tipped off. Having lost handily last year, the western conference varsity squad was determined to put up a better fight. They jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the east responded with a 10-0 explosion behind five points from Eli Bokhour. A small run at the end of the first, completed by three-pointers from Tani Gottlieb and Jakey Abenaim, tied things up at 19 after eight minutes of action.
The second quarter was very back-and-forth as the two teams traded baskets. A nifty layup from Ezra Stern knotted the score at 36 with 70 seconds remaining in the period. However, the east finished the half on a 7-0 run behind a trey from Joe Aaron and two layups from Yosef Bruckenstein–including off a full court pass from Josh Chabbott just before the buzzer–to take a seven point lead into the intermission, the biggest advantage for either team through 16 minutes. The first half saw five lead changes.
The western conference came out firing to start the third quarter, scoring on their first four possessions, including threes from Ari Halpert, Leyad Teren, and Isaac Stepner, to jump out to a 47-46 lead two minutes in. The next three and a half minutes saw the two teams trade blows. Two Aslan Bawabeh layups led to the sixth lead change of the quarter and sparked a 12-0 burst for the east. After three periods, the east held a 69-60 lead.
The advantage grew to 11 early in the fourth, as things started looking bleak for the west. However, down 73-62 with seven minutes left, Stepner canned triples on back-to-back possessions. Eastern conference Coach Shalom Babayev from North Shore then requested that two minutes be added to the clock so that the players could get more time on the floor, and the west’s Oz Cross from TABC obliged (to the dismay of the officials).
With 4:40 to go (what would have originally been 2:40), the west trailed by six, but Stepner drained two more threes in the span of 40 seconds to tie the game at 79. Over the next three minutes, the two squads traded baskets, but with one minute left, Eyal Kinderlehrer completed an and-one, providing the west their first lead since three minutes left in the third. Up 86-83, the west got a stop, and Eli Braha nailed a three to ice the game. Aaron dunked off an alley-oop from Bokhour at the buzzer, making the final score 89-85.
Following each of the games, an MVP award was handed out to one player on each of the four teams. In the JV contest, Ramaz’s Hiltzik was recognized for his excellent shooting performance, as he knocked down 4 threes to tally 12 points, while DRS’ Tsaidi proved to be an unstoppable force and brought home the eastern conference MVP, as he racked up 21 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals. The varsity game saw Frisch’s Stepner win MVP as he scored 25 second half points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, on 10/17 shooting, while also grabbing 5 rebounds. Magen David’s Chabbott stuffed the stat sheet and took home eastern conference MVP, as he totaled 16 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.
The event was a very successful one. Yeshiva League Pass, Yeshivah of Flatbush, and Camp Seneca Lake hope to continue the partnership in the coming years.
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