On Sunday April 3, 2011, after finishing their Colour War preparations at 4:00am, 10 Juvenile Girls went to Ecole Maimonide in Ville St. Laurent to play their semi-final game scheduled for 9:00am in the Jewish High School Basketball Tournament. The girls played Herzliah St. Laurent and defeated them 51 -30, with Alexia Oiknine scoring 35 points, followed by Haley Bright with 12 points.
At 2:00pm the girls again took to the floor for the championship game against Bialik High School. In a thriller of a game that went down to the last shot, our Juvenile Girls won the game and the Gold Medal by a score of 40-38! Leading the way again was Alexia Oiknine, with 24 points, followed by Haley Bright with 8 points, and Sarah Edery and Dina Drazin each with 2 points. Alexia Oiknine was named the tournament’s MVP.
Our Midget Boys team also made it to the finals and took on Bialik. Once again Hebrew Academy came through, and defeated Bialik 54-44 to win the Midget Jewish Basketball title. Scoring for the boys were Benji Dahan and Vidal Israel with 12 points each, followed by Daniel Borden with 11 points, Jacob Israel with 10 points, and Dan Cohen with 9 points. This time Jacob Israel was named the tournament’s MVP.
Our Juvenile Boys Division 1 team’s semi-final game against Herzliah St. Laurent was scheduled for 10:00am. Because of Colour War commitments, however, only five players were in attendance. With neither rest nor substitutions, our boys went on a rampage scoring their season-high total of 103 points, and winning 103-61! Leading the way was Dvir Cahana with 52 points, Eliott Azeroual and Natanel Sebbag, each contributing 16 points, David Abbitan with 10 points and Ari Drazin with 9 points. The team then moved on to the finals at 3:00pm against Bialik. While they were down by 16 points at the half, our boys fought their way back to an exciting 60-58 victory, and the Gold Medal to sweep the Jewish Basketball Tournament in all three categories! The team was led by the inspirational leadership of captain Eliott Azeroual.
Leading in the scoring was Dvir Cahana with 25 points who averaged a record high 38.7 points per game over the four-game tournament. David Abbitan followed with 15 points – his career best in his final high school basketball game. Eliott Azeroual scored 10 points and 15 assists. In a strong display of unity and sportsmanship, the boys chose to accept the trophy as a team MVP.
Our Bantam Boys traded in their basketball uniforms for hockey sticks and competed this past weekend in the JISA Floor Hockey Tournament. In their first game against Herzliah Snowdon, the boys lost 4-3 with Moise Amselem scoring two goals and Baruch Benaim the lone tally. Later in the afternoon, they took on Maimonide and defeated them 9-6. Leading the way with a hat trick was Jeremy Benchaya, followed by Dovi Matthews and Baruch Benaim, each with two goals, and cousins Moise and Moshe Amselem each scoring one. In Monday’s semi-finals, the team beat Bialik in an exciting shootout finish: 5-4. Both Dovi Matthews and Jeremy Benchaya scored two goals each. The final game for the gold medal was played on Tuesday, with our boys facing-off with Herzliah St Laurent. Despite our boys’ best efforts, Herzliah was much stronger, beating our team 8-2. Our two goals were scored by Adam Azeroual. The team returned to Hebrew Academy with a silver medal.
