On Saturday night, SAR faced off against Frisch in what was both the season and home opener for the varsity Sting. The Cougars gave the Sting more than they could bear, escaping The Hive with a 47-34 win. In a tough, gritty affair, Frisch’s defense shined, and they pulled away in the 3rd quarter, never looking back. Here’s how it went down:
The Sting crowd was buzzing early on with 3 pointers made by Yishama Orlow, who netted 10 points in total, and Sam Weiss who added 11 points of his own. That crowd was soon subdued by the Cougars, primarily by Ezra Berkowitz (12 points), who early on in this game was a force with 10 first half points. Through the first half, this was a tightly contested defensive battle, but Frisch would pull away in the second.
In a close game like this, defense usually is the biggest difference-maker. While SAR’s defense wasn’t bad, the Cougars put on a masterclass in the second half, led by Max Schachter who, besides for racking up 8 points, notched an impressive 6 steals, as well as a block. Schachter was everywhere tonight, deflecting passes and causing utter mayhem. It was hard for the Sting to muster any kind of offense with Schachter seemingly everywhere to break up the play. Schachter’s omnipresence, along with Roni Heumann’s 15 points—the majority of which came in the second half—did the trick for Frisch. Timely scoring plus good defense will play anywhere, anytime, and that was Frisch’s secret formula tonight.
With 3 minutes to go and down 10, SAR tried to start a comeback, but the Cougars held on to the ball for long possessions, and when the Sting began to foul, Frisch made clutch free throws to put the game out of reach. The Frisch Cougars’ relentless defense and their tenuous playing style yielded them a victory tonight as the Sting fans buzzed off, unhappy. It was a great start to the season for the Cougars, as they notched a win against their bitter rivals tonight.
STARk Player of the Game: Max Schachter (Frisch)
Stats credit: Sophia Leibowitz and Chaim Stark