In 2007 CAI Men's Club Basketball won its first JCC Temple League Championship.In 2008, the team won its second.
2009 is being labeled as "The Year of Giving Back."
The team closed out its 2008-2009 getting thumped by Temple Ner Tamid of Bloomfield, 88-45. Agudath Israel suited up six players who hustled their brains out, but a hot-shooting TNT squad and an injury to CAI's leading scorer Steve Eitman put the game well out of reach. The loss brought Agudath's record down to a lowly 0-8, cemented a last place finish in the Jerusalem Division and kept the team from reaching the playoffs for the first time in its three year history.
Co-captain Adam Shandler, who will be handing off full control of the team to Marc Weinstein, believes there were many factors that led to this forgettable season. "Our core nucleus of players, those guys that give us steady offense every Thursday night, weren't able to participate until late in the season due to other conflicts. Bob Dale, our big man who led us to the two titles, only made one game, which hurt, but I can understand his other obligations. We also got hit with the injury bug. Swingman Rich Gilbert dislocated a thumb against the JCC team and point guard Jay Lubetkin tweaked an ankle mid-season."
But the season was not a total loss, as Shandler explains. "We got two new rookies in Bobby Epstein and Adam Tekel who made some nice contributions, and Marc Weinstein and Mitch Gilbert, without question, are the Most Improved Players on the team. Both doubled their scoring output from last year. In spite of being out of reach in some games, I was able to get everybody in, so everyone got ample playing time and hopefully had a lot of fun."
Pictured above, from left to right, are co-captain Marc Weinstein, David Kerner, Jay Baranker, Steve Eitman, Richie Dicker and co-captain Adam Shandler.
The Agudath Israel Men's Club Basketball Team looks to return to its winning ways next winter. The 2009-10 season begins just after Thanksgiving.
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