CAI Comeback Against JCC W.O. Falls Short

The Agudath Israel Men's Club Basketball Team was hoping for just one victory in 2009. Alas, despite a post-Hannukkah Maccabean effort it was not meant to be. CAI lost a heartbreaker 40-38 to the JCC of West Orange.

JCC-W.O. opened up the contest with a 14-0 run. But CAI closed the gap with a 9-2 run of its own with about 10 minutes left in the first half to make the score 16-9. Always reliable center David Kerner struggled with foul trouble forcing the team to go small in certain scenarios but Stu Markon proved a worthy stand-in tonight for Kerner.

With the JCC-W.O. up by as much as 12 points in the second half, CAI put a few runs together led by the fast break scoring of Richie Dicker and Jay Adlersberg. But it was two transition baskets and two key free throws by David Lurie (right) that cut the JCC-W.O. lead to 2 points. With four seconds left, CAI had the chance to tie it but the team's old bugaboo - turnovers - reared its ugly head. All in all this was a great second half effort and the team looks to build on this moral victory when it faces Temple Emanuel on Monday night, January 4th.

Richie Dicker (left) led all CAI scorers tonight with 16, including three 3-pointers.

Agudath Israel falls to 0-3 on the season with this loss and 0-11 dating back to the 2008-09 season.