New Jersey Jewish News
Sports Story

Schechter caps 19-3 record by winning yeshiva tourney

by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Staff Writer

The Solomon Schechter Roadrunners capped its finest season by winning the 19th annual Joseph Weiner Memorial Basketball Tournament, held Feb. 22-26 at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School in Baltimore.

This marked the fifth time Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union has won the tournament, which is considered the “crown jewel” of Jewish day school sports events. It attracts boys’ and girls’ teams from across North America for a weekend of communal Shabbat and competitive basketball.

In addition to SSDS, teams participating in the tournament included Beth Tfiloh; Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (girls team) of Downsview, Ontario; Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy of Overland Park, Kan.; Akiba Hebrew Academy of Philadelphia; and Mosenson Youth Villages High School (boys’ team) from Hod HaSharon, Israel.

Under the coaching of Sandy Pyonin, the SSDS boys’ varsity finished the regular season with a record of 19-3 and won the NJ State Interscholastic Athletic Association Prep B basketball championship in February, the school’s first state title in any sport.

Schechter won its first four games of the Weiner tournament to advance to the championship game against host school Beth T’filoh, whom they dominated 79-39. Senior Josh Marcus was chosen as tournament MVP and named All Tournament first team along with teammate Michael Gorshein. Steven Balter and Steven Hoffer were named to the second All Tournament team. 

Additional members of the Roadrunners include Josh Wohl, Jason Steinberg, Elliot Pines, Ethan Cohen, Jordan Marcus, Alex Coopersmith, Michael Hochberg, Zach Stern, and Etan Tammam.

Schechter’s girls’ team, led by coach Adam Shapiro, also participated in the tournament, but was missing several key players due to a combination of injuries and prior commitments to Neshama, the school’s study program in Israel.

Ilana Herzberg was named to the All Tournament second team, and Sabrina Katz received the All Tournament Sportsmanship Award. Other team members included Stacey Cohenson, Danielle Erlich, Gaby Blady, and Dalya Zucker.

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