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A Family Tradition Since 1964
Pisgah-Zeiger, the B’nai B’rith basketball league champions
Champs, Finally!
Steve Stein | Contributing Writer
T
he fifth time was a charm for the
Pisgah-Zeiger basketball team.
On its fifth consecutive try,
Pisgah-Zeiger won the B’nai B’rith
league championship.
Downtown Fox beat Pisgah-Zeiger
in the playoff championship game four
straight years en route to six straight
league titles, but it was Pisgah-Zeiger’s
time to shine in 2016.
Pisgah-Zeiger finished 8-2 in the regu-
lar season and earned the No. 1 seed in
the playoffs in the five-team league. After
a 57-28 win over Brotherhood in the
playoff semifinals, Pisgah-Zeiger awaited
the winner of the other semifinal game.
Surely it would be Downtown Fox,
right? Downtown Fox owned the No.
2 playoff seed thanks to a 7-3 regular-
season record. It played No. 3 seed Great
Lakes Region in the semifinals.
In an upset that rivaled Michigan
State’s loss to Middle Tennessee State
in the NCAA tournament, Great Lakes
Region stunned Downtown Fox 67-63 in
an intense battle.
“What a surprise that was. We were
absolutely certain we’d play Downtown
Fox for the league championship,”
said Pisgah-Zeiger player-coach Rick
Sherline.
The B’nai B’rith playoff schedule forces
the winner of the semifinal between the
No. 2 and No. 3 seeds to play the cham-
pionship game after only a short break.
The winner of the semifinal between the
No. 1 and No. 4 seeds gets to rest while
the other semifinal is being played.
Pisgah-Zeiger took full advantage of
the opportunity.
“You could tell they (Great Lakes
Region) were exhausted and physically
drained after they beat Downtown Fox,”
Sherline said. “They didn’t have much
left after they expended all that energy.”
Pisgah-Zeiger beat Great Lakes
Region 95-41 in the playoff champion-
ship game. Dan Serlin scored 22 points
for the winners. Russ Young and Scott
Kapeller also scored in double figures
with 16 and 14 points. All 10 Pisgah-
Zeiger players who were there got into
the game and scored.
Great Lakes Region was tired, cer-
tainly. And it was missing one of its key
players because of an Easter commit-
ment (non-Jews are welcome to play in
the league).
But Pisgah-Zeiger was on a mission,
not just in the playoff championship
game but all season long.
“We were focused and determined,”
Sherline said. “Was finishing second
four straight years a big reason for our
determination? Yes, it was part of it.”
Earning the No. 1 seed for the play-
offs was a major goal, Sherline said, so
Pisgah-Zeiger could avoid playing back-
to-back games.
“We know what Great Lakes Region
experienced. We were on that side of the
bracket four straight years,” he said.
Great team chemistry also was a big
part of Pisgah-Zeiger’s success, Sherline
said, as well as its large roster, the big-
gest in the league.
There were 12 players on the team
and 10 usually played each week at
the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield.
Besides Sherline, Serlin, Young and
Kapeller, the other Pisgah-Zeiger players
were Ryan Markowitz, Jay James, Janard
Long, Bryant Gaston, Mike Feld, Jason
Veider, Keith Johnson and Mitch Cohen.
Sherline has been playing in the
league since it was founded in 1976.
COLLEGE STANDOUTS
Kudos to two Jewish collegiate athletes
who had great days recently:
• Indiana University senior golfer Max
Kollin from North Farmington High
School shot 1-under-par 71 in cold,
miserable conditions at the Hoosier
Collegiate tournament at Otter Creek
Golf Course in Columbus, Ind. That
was his team’s low score for the second
round of the weather-shortened two-
round tournament. Combined with a
75 in the first round, Kollin’s tie for 13th
place individually was his best tourna-
ment showing for Indiana at an event
not played at the IU Golf Course.
• Kalamazoo College junior outfielder
Ian Kobernick from Berkley High School
went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and
two RBIs in the Hornets’ 14-2 win over
Trine University (Angola, Ind.).
*
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April 28 • 2016
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