maccabi final

SoCalHoops Tournament News

Maccabi Games: LA Wins The
Gold Over Orange County--(Aug. 20, 1999)

No, we haven't gone away, and we didn't disappear either (although there are some who would equate being in New Jersey with disappearing), instead we've been busy with the 1999 Maccabi Games, and we're very happy to report that the Los Angeles boys' basketball team won the Championship gold medal game, defeating a very strong team from Orange County (why does it always seem to be the case that teams travel 3000 miles from SoCal only to play a game that they could play in their own backyards?).

The LA team played Saturday in a "scrimmage" game in Philly, and then the competition started Monday, and the organizers, doing their best to try to muck things up for the SoCal players, scheduled 8:15 a.m. games (that's 5:15 a.m. PDT) every morning, including several back to back at 10:30 a.m. as well. Yesterday morning, in the round of 16, they gave LA a break, and started them on a three-game trip at 8:30 a.m.. And yesterday, LA completed a most improbable, ironic run, finishing where no one, including the LA players themselves, thought they would finish: In the gold medal game. This was a short team, with not a single post player. LA struggled in pool play, winning two games to weaker teams, and losing two to teams that were similar to the LA team roster, so no one really gave them much hope against the bigger, taller and stronger teams from the East.

No one, and we mean no one, gave the LA team much of a chance to make it past the round of 16. In fact, the LA team was sort of like the homely sister who gets invited to the dance, the one who people look at and say "What's she doing here?" But LA won when they needed to, and yesterday morning LA started out by defeating a very strong team from South Jersey in the quarterfinals by 22 points, then beating a team from North Jersey decisively in the semis by 11, and finally knocking off the Orange County silver medal team 78-57 before a packed house. And when we say it was an "improbable run", we mean it: One look at the team, and you'd be saying, "Ok, they've got some guards, now where's the rest of the team?" This wasn't just a team of "some" guards, it was an entire team of guards, not a big man in sight, and yet they were able to defeat the best, tallest and quickest teams in the tournament.

In the first game of the day, LA was led by David Fisher (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) from Hamilton who scored 23 points, and David Gale (5'-11" So. PG) who started LA's scoring run in the second quarter, stroking in three consecutive three-pointers and a field goal in a span of about three minutes, which just broke the back of South Jersey. Will Sheslow (6'-0" So. SG), Craig Weinstein (5'-10" So. PG/SG), Adam Sacks (5'-11" Sr. PG), Jeff Delson (6'-1" Jr. SF/SG), Robbie Wizenberg (6'-1" So. SF/SG), Matt Bendik (5'-11" Jr. PG) and Charlie Kranzdorf (6'-1" So. SF) all played great, and LA won decisively by 21 points.

In the second game, against North Jersey, LA faced their toughest test: The South Jersey front line stood 6'-9", 6'-8", 6'-7"and 6'-5" and these were fast, agile, mobile guys, not just big stiffs, and they had a couple of excellent shooting guards as well. North Jersey had just defeated the Philly team in a tough game played at the same time as the LA v. South Jersey game, so both teams had already had tough tests that morning. The LA guards were just simply quicker, better shooters, and played tougher, more tenacious defense, and employing a smothering press and shooting better than 50% from the three-point arc, LA established a quick 17 point lead, but then stalled just before the half, and North Jersey, the tallest, and many thought the toughest team in the tournament, trailed by only 9 at the half. By the end of the third quarter, N. Jersey had clawed their way back, and the score was tied 45-45. The fourth quarter saw N. Jersey switch to an extended zone in an attempt to counter LA's shooting, and to counter Jersey's zone, LA simply held the ball, forcing Jersey to come out and defend. When they refused, David Gale again sparked a decisive scoring run, first by hitting a wide open three, then getting fouled in the act of shooting a three, and he made all three free throws, and then had a great steal, making the layup and getting fouled in the process to extend LA's lead which was never relinquished. Late in the game Robbie Wizenberg also hit several nice outside shots, and also had some nice drives to the basket, something we'd not seen him do in games; Robbie has a reasonably quick first step when he makes up his mind to use it, and he had a great game. Again, David Fisher was the leading scorer in the game, hitting for 21 points off some beautifully athletic inside drives and second effort put-backs. Craig Weinstein hit for 7 points, Jeff Delson had 8, Adam Sacks 14, and Will Sheslow hit for 16, including three three-pointers.

The win over N. Jersey set up a Gold Medal final against the team from Orange County, which was the ultimate irony, considering that three of the OC players (Harrison Schaen, Matt Susson, Johnny Munz) and four of the LA players (David Gale, Craig Weinstein, Will Sheslow, Charlie Kranzdorf) all played last year together on the same team which won a Gold Medal in the '98 Detroit Maccabi Games. This year, Harrison Schaen (6'-8" Fr. SF/PF) from Mater Dei, Matt Susson (5'-8" So. PG) from Northpoint (the new OC high school opening this year), and Johnny Munz (5'-8" So. PG/SG) were joined on the Orange County this year by Matt Barranick (5'-11" So. SF) and Aaron Szeckel (6'-5" Jr. PF) both from Long Beach.

Despite the lack of any big men for LA, and despite Harrison Schaen's great shot blocking (we counted at least 11 blocks), which frustrated just about everyone, including LA's leading scorer Fisher, who still managed to get 22 points, the LA team just methodically and systematically ran, and ran, and then ran some more, and even though the score was tied at the half, 28-28, by the end of the third quarter, OC was not only spent, they had taken a mortal blow when their leading shooter, Munz (who had hit three back to back three pointers) went out of the game with a fractured wrist early in the fourth quarter. Following Munz' departure from the game, and a series of improbable plays (there's that word again) where 5'-11" David Gale actually managed to get up and block Harrison Schaen's shot, and several key baskets by Craig Weinstein, including an "and-1" which put the cap on the game, LA cruised in the last three minutes.

This was a great tournament, and best of all for several of the players (Sheslow and Gale), it marked a third consecutive gold medal (Seattle '97, Detroit '98, Cherry Hill '99), and for several others (Bendik and Fisher) it capped a great summer which saw them also win the gold medal in the Pan Am games.