The Red Sarachek Basketball Tournament returned for the first time since 2019, but the Firehawks didn’t receive the outcome they were hoping for. 

Shalhevet had reached the championship game in the previous five Sarachek contests, which are held at Yeshiva University in New York and involves only boys teams. In 2018 and 2019, they won it. 

This year there was a different outcome. After winning their first-round game on Thursday, March 24, against the Ida Crown Aces of Skokie, Ill., 67-41, they were unable to win their second game the day after against Davis Renov Stahler (DRS) Yeshiva High School of Woodmere, N.Y., losing 56-42. 

In the DRS game, the Firehawks had a strong first six minutes, developing a relatively comfortable 12-2 lead. But the New York team was able to score 10 points in the last two minutes of the first quarter, tying the game 12-12. 

DRS took the lead at the beginning of the second quarter and never turned back, maintaining the lead for the remainder of the game. 

The loss to DRS meant the Firehawks were eliminated from the possibility of making it to the championship game. They played two more games in the tournament, against Yeshivah of Flatbush on March 27 and Yavneh Academy of Dallas on Monday, March 28. The Firehawks lost to Flatbush 58-48 but beat Yavneh Academy 55-54.

Junior Oz Shalom, who plays forward, said in an interview with The Boiling Point that the team can only grow from their mistakes and hope to be more successful in next year’s tournament. 

“It was very disappointing,” said Oz. “The only goal we had was to go to New York and win, but we lost the Friday game and everything went downhill for us.”