30 January 10 • 2019
jn

T

he path is clear for the Frankel
Jewish Academy boys basketball
team.
If the Jaguars can win their final five
Catholic League Intersectional No. 2
games, they’
ll win the division cham-
pionship.
“We want to put up a division
championship banner in our gym.
That’
s our goal,
” said second-year FJA
coach Michael Marek. “The only other
banner up there is from the division
championship in the 2008-2009 sea-
son. That’
s it.
”
FJA got off to a great start this
season, winning six of seven games
including a huge 56-49 victory Dec. 18
over division rival Riverview Gabriel
Richard.
Then came three straight losses to
end 2018, leaving the Jaguars with
a 6-4 overall record and a 4-2 mark
in the division, tied for second place
with Clarkston Everest, a game behind
Gabriel Richard (5-1).
“Humbled, but motivated,
” Marek
said about the team’
s reaction to the
losing streak, which includes losing to
Everest by 11 points and losing twice
in a holiday tournament at Auburn
Hills Oakland Christian with only
seven of 12 players available because of
family obligations.
FJA
’
s reduced roster battled Macomb
Lutheran North (55-45) and Livonia
Clarenceville (44-43) at Oakland
Christian but couldn’
t get wins.
“I always say you either win a game
or learn from it,
” Marek said. “We
learned from those losses.
”
The group pulled out one of the pro-
gram’
s most important wins in years
last month when it knocked off visiting
Gabriel Richard.
“We had a ‘
whiteout’
night and the
gym was packed,
” Marek said. “It was
great to see so many fans cheering us
on.
”
FJA led Gabriel Richard by 16 points
in the third quarter, but the visitors
rallied and tied the game late in the
fourth quarter. The Jaguars went
back in front for good on consecutive
three-pointers by Ryan Otis.
Otis, a 6-foot-4 center often goes
head-to-head with taller players. As a
lefthander, he’
s dangerous on the wings.

Point guard Noah Schlussel runs the
FJA offense, and three other seniors
play key roles for the Jaguars: guards
Zack Seiferheld and Jordan Salesin and
forward Jacob Klein, a tough defender.
Junior forward Ethan Mostyn is the
Jaguars’
leading rebounder, and junior
Will Bloomberg is a jack-of-all-trades,
playing wherever he is needed.
The coach was optimistic at the end
of last season that this could a division
championship year for FJA because the
team finished 10-10 in 2017-2018 and
lost only one senior, Dylan Backalar, to
graduation.
He came back to FJA — along with
former Jaguars star Dylan Bressler,
who scored more than 1,300 points in
four years — for a pre-season practice
Nov. 25 with the current team and
three of Marek’
s former Catholic Youth
Organization players from St. John
Neumann Catholic in Canton.
Backalar is a freshman at Ball State
University in Muncie, Ind., and a stu-
dent manager for the basketball team
there. ■

Send news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

FJA BOYS BASKETBALL ROSTER
Seniors: Ryan Otis, Noah Schlussel,
Jacob Klein, Jordan Salesin, Zack
Seiferheld; juniors: Ethan Mostyn,
Will Bloomberg, Rafie Iframiov, Mitch
Blackman; sophomores: Jeremey
Jenkins, Brandon Gladstone; and
freshman Caleb Kleinfeldt.

sports

Current and former players, along with FJA

coach Michael Marek and his daughter Kaylee

FJA Hopes for
Banner Season

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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