Athletics
Jaguar Athletics

de Toledo Advances to the Memphis Cooper Invitational Semifinals


de Toledo scores two upsets on their way to the Invitational semifinals

The Jaguar Varsity Basketball team is currently in Memphis, facing off against the top Jewish high school basketball programs around the nation in a four-day tournament. The ten-seeded Jaguars defeated the seven-seed Fasman Yeshiva out of Skokie, Illinois in their first match on Thursday, 61-51, to qualify for the Tier I Bracket. de Toledo then went on to upset the two-seed YULA Panthers earlier today, 53-49, solidifying them as true contenders to take home the championship. See the wrap-ups below by the tournament's official journalists:

de Toledo 61 - Fasman Yeshiva 51

"As one of the first games of the Cooper invitational began, the pace of the game was already at a max. Fasman started out with the leas as Doni Miretzky, a senior from the Yeshiva, hit a quick jumper to kick off the game, and Yaakov Mendelson with a layup shortly after. Unfortunately for Fasman, these few points did not knock de Toledo off their game, as Dylan Esulin gave de Toledo their first bucket of the game with a nice rebound and put-back. De Toledo’s Liam Evenhaim evened out the playing field by knocking down a three, tightening the score, and raising the tension on the court. After a foul by Fasman, de Toledo began to pull away with the lead as Dorel Cohen made both of his free throws. Doni Stein finished up the quarter with a sweet 3 for Fasman, leaving the score at a close 12-11 lead for de Toledo.

Fasman came into the second with a new sense of energy, as Akiva Lafer quickly knocking down a three pointer and putting his team in the lead. The Jaguars refused to back down, countering the shot with a bucket by Cohen, once again tieing up the game. By halftime the intensity of the game had only heightened. The half came to a close and the score was still 24-23, giving de Toledo a one point lead.

It was during the second half that the de Toledo Jaguars started to pull ahead, as Liam Evenheim sunk a deep 3 for DTHS. Fasman continued to give Evenhaim free throws, allowing him to sink another two shots. Jack Bromberg assisted in establishing a comfortable lead for de Toledo, with a nice 3 pointer, ending off the jaguars in the lead 37-43.

As the fourth quarter began it was Fasman’s mission to get back in the game. Doni Miretzky started this comeback with a nice jump shot close to the basket, but unfortunately for the Yeshiva, the Jags’ tight defense made it exceedingly difficult for them to get the shots back into the hole. Towards the end of the fourth, Fasmans began to get a little sloppy with the ball, results in a series of turnovers for de Toledo. Fasman make up a few points with some free throws, but not enough to take home the win, with the game ending at a score of 61-51 a victory for the de Toledo Jaguars."

de Toledo 53 - YULA 49


"In Los Angeles vs. Los Angeles, the YULA Panthers faced off against the del Toledo Jaguars. The battle started off rough, with both teams struggling to find the basket early on. Eventually, however, del Toledo managed to find um buckets with a three from Bromberg. YULa then answered back, by with Totaiv hitting both free throws after a foul. After a bucket from del Toledo, Yul managed to find n easy layup on the break. They then took the lead with a sweet shot from the wing by Sasoon. However, del Toledo started to take back momentum with a three from Bromberg and then two free throws by Nussbaum. The Jaguars then go out on a hot streak, with both Evenheim, Cohen, and Nussbaum hitting jumpers within almost a minute. The first quarter then ended with many fouls and many buckets.

DTHS started the second quarter strong, with a three from Evenheim and Nussbaum. YULA answered, back, however, with a nice move from Sasoon. Both teams then struggled to find the basket, until Sassoon hit another layup on the break off beautiful pass from his teammate. Evenheim then continued to dominate, by hitting a hard layup off an ally-oop, making a jumper, THe panthers, on the other hand, were still struggling, until Fallas and Meisels both finished on contested drives. The fouling was still an issue for both teams, a both of them entered the bonus not before long. At the end of the half, the score was 33-22 after another Evenheim three.

DTHS and YULA off the third quarter in a battle. YuL had good defense and it seemed hard for de Toledo to get the points they were lacking. All efforts de Toledo put into the game Yula answered with the same amount of motation. In the beginning de Toledo had quite a bit fouls, giving Yula some extra points. The coaches of both teams were trying to motivate their players. de Toledo seemed to have some difficulty getting around Yula’s defences. Toward the end if the third quarter one of de Toledo’s players got injured.

At the beginning of the last quarter both teams, especially DTHS, were fighting to get as many points as possible. Yula had couple steals on DTHS. It seemed that YULA started to get frustrated, and they pushed and made a closed the par to 5 points. They pushed even more and closed the par to 1 point making it a tight game. YULA started to feel the pressure and acted too quickly turning possession to DTHS. 44 seconds left DTHS called a time out, they were ahead by one. Walmangot fouled with 33 seconds left, he was able to get them ahead by 2 points t with the first foul shot. Number 10 got fouled with 17 on the clock (DTHS) he scored one more. 13 seconds left and YULA called a time out. 1 second left a fouls was called on YULA. Esulin made one free throw. The game ended with the score 53 – 49 in a huge upset by the Jaguars. deToledo will go on to the semi-finals Saturday night, while YULA will play in the consolation bracket."

de Toledo vs. Rochelle Zell Jewish High School (Saturday, Time TBA)

The Jaguars will take on another squad that has taken out teams as the underdog in 11-seed Rochelle Zell Jewish High School from Deerfield, Illinois on Saturday night in the semifinals.
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Located in the San Fernando Valley portion of the City of Los Angeles in Northern Los Angeles County. de Toledo High School is accredited by the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and Builders of Jewish Education (BJE,) and financially supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Jim Joseph Foundation.