On today’s edition of the Tuesday Morning JM in the AM Sports Update, we’ve got your scoop on Sunday’s basketball championships, and HAFTR moves on to the finals in varsity hockey, but not without some controversy. Good morning everyone I’m Elliot Weiselberg.

After 4 months of competition, we’ve finally hit the three week stretch where it matters most. March Madness officially kicked into high gear this past Sunday with the MYHSBL JV and Varsity Basketball championships held at YU’s Max Stern Athletic Center. The JV portion featuring two undefeated teams, DRS and Flatbush kicked off the proceedings. Second quarter, DRS up 14-13, Point Guard Yoav Deutsch puts the dagger into Flatbush with 3 three’s including a deep shot to end the half, putting DRS up 26-13 at the mid-way point. Deutsch’s 3’s sparked a 21-0 DRS run that lasted from the opening moments of the 2^nd, until the two minute mark left in the third, holding Flatbush to only 4 points in a span of 12 minutes. During that stretch, the Wildcats hit the shots needed to pull away and earned their first JV Basketball championship by the score of 43-25. Deutsch earned MVP honors, finishing with 16 points.

In the evening session, the two varsity powerhouses, Western Conference champion Ramaz and Eastern Conference champions, undefeated North Shore went toe to toe. The Rams took the lead early on and opened up a 21-12 lead toward the end of the second on hot shooting by Dan Berg and Jamie Cappell. But North Shore battled back, countering a Ramaz 9- 2 run with a 9-2 run of their own to close the gap to 23-21 at the half. In the third, the Rams would push their lead out to 5 and 6-point margins but found themselves up only 1 heading into the final period after Cody Cohen closed out the quarter hitting 3 foul shots to make the score 34-33. Cohen would nail 2 more to start the 4^th to give North Shore its first lead since the closing minutes of the first half, part of an 11-11 stretch for Cohen from the line that would carry deep into the closing minutes. The Stars built up a 9-point lead, but suffered a huge blow with 2:26 to go when senior Josh Cohen, who scored 10 points in the first half and 13 on the game, fouled out, erasing one of North Shore’s main go-to options. Ramaz chipped away at the lead and in the closing seconds found themselves down 3 with Dan Berg at the line. Berg hit the first but missed the second with the rebound going to North Shore’s Josh Shmuel. Shmuel was immediately sent to the line where he hit both shots, which, with just under 5 seconds to go, ended the game with North Shore winning their first basketball championship in school history. The final score 52-48. Cody Cohen earned MVP honors, dropping 18 points, including an astounding 11-13 from the line, and holding the fort down in the fourth quarter.

To hear more in-depth coverage of these games as well as what the winning coaches had to say about their team’s performances tune in to the Court Report tonight at 7pm on the Nachum Segal Network, Nachumsegal.com.

Moving over to Varsity hockey now where HAFTR and TABC battled last night with a championship berth on the line. TABC up 2-1 midway through the third, the Storm killed off a penalty but could not get themselves set at full strength, and HAFTR defenseman Jordan Gellman deposited the ball in the net to tie the game. They would go to overtime and 2 minutes into the period, HAFTR’s Adam Schreiber picked up the ball behind the net and sent it back to the middle where Matt Rosenberg put the ball on goal, and was credited with the game winning goal despite the appearance that the ball actually hit the right post. The referees conferred and confirmed the ruling, sending the Hawks on to the championship game to await the winner of tonight’s contest between DRS and Frisch, in DRS at 8PM.

And that was your Tuesday morning JM in the AM Sports Update, I’m Elliot Weiselberg.