Los Angeles-Westside Takes Maccabi Hoops Gold

The gold medal game of Maccabi's Memorial Basketball Tournament—named after the longtime Daily News Sixers beat writer who lost a battle to cancer in December—was officiated by three NBA referees. Accordingly, its 15- and 16-year-old competitors played at about the level Joe Crawford and company are accustomed to seeing.

In a crisply played championship rematch of last year's Baltimore finale, Los Angeles-Westside used pinpoint shooting and a 31-12 run to top Sid Jacobson of New York 80-63 Thursday at Bala Cynwyd Middle School.

"We really kept our composure and put out a full effort," said Westside's Adam Treisman, who, along with his teammates, will take home a Maccabi gold medal for the second time in as many years.

"Every time they started making a comeback, we just dug deeper and kept coming," he added.

Both finalists did. In a game that was played at a hyperactive pace throughout—save for the penalty-slowed last few minutes—there were extended stretches where it seemed like hardly a shot was missed. There were also extended stretches where this was true.

With 2:20 left in the initial period of what, to that point, had been a defensive contest, Jacobson's Andrew Fellus drained a three pointer to tie the score at 9 and opened the proverbial floodgates. Westside's JoJo Fallas then immediately hit a deep two before Jacobson followed suit and Westside answered back. Jacobson's David Orr then hit a three, then Westside scored again, then Orr hit another three before—to the increasingly incredulous crowd's delight—Adam Treisman banged a long ball for Westside to tie the score at 17 and Jacobson, not a moment too soon, responded with a leaner by Fellus as time expired in the period.

When the dust cleared, the team from New York had taken a 19-17 lead.

"It was a great team effort," said Fellus, who was outstanding for the runners-up. "We all fought, but we congratulate the other team on the win."

It was the second period when it became clear that Fellus would be the congratulator rather than the congratulated: Westside clamped down defensively, controlled the boards, and continued their hot shooting to open up a 33-24 lead at the half.

Westside got more of the same in the third period, expanding their lead to 19 on the strength of solid backcourt play from Treisman and Fallas and sound board-work from Los Angeles forward JoJo Himmelman.

Though Jacobson rallied late, cutting the Westside lead to six with under three minutes remaining, the sharpshooting Los Angelinos hit their foul shots and shut the door on the comeback bid of their other coast opponents.

"This was harder than it was last year," said Fallas after the game, surrounded by euphoric teammates, reflecting on the tournament that was. "The whole thing was much harder this year. But we just came out and wanted it more."