While the Shalhevet varsity basketball Firehawks maintained a strong lead throughout the first three quarters, the YULA Panthers came back in the fourth and won the annual rivalry match-up 57-50 before an overflow crowd at the JCC Jan. 8,

After coming off of a slow scoring start early on in the first quarter, the Firehawks pulled away from the Panthers in the second quarter with a series of fast breaks and three-pointers amounting to a 10-0 run. To close off the second quarter, junior Adam Sharabi drained a half-court buzzer beater, solidifying a nine-point lead at halftime.  It was the forward’s second game with the team this year.

YULA coach Dave Wineck said the Panthers then changed their strategy in response to the strong Shalhevet showing.

“Coming into the game, we knew they were quicker and did not want to get beat off the dribble,” Coach Wineck said. “Since they shoot good threes, this didn’t work out. In the second half we changed strategies, we went into a different alignment against their zone and started getting the ball inside and we won.”

The change in strategy became apparent in the fourth quarter when Jack Gindi, starting center for the YULA team, began knocking down consecutive post shots.

Michael Suriel enjoyed it in spite of the loss.

“It was a very fun game to play, I was really excited and hopeful after the half,” Michael said, “I guess we got a little too excited though.”