T
his has been a great season for
the Frankel Jewish Academy
boys basketball team, one of its
best in years. But it won’
t play in the
Catholic League C-D tournament.
Not because the Jaguars didn’
t qual-
ify for the league tournament. They
did. They were one of the top four
teams in the seven-team Intersectional
2 Division.
Coach Mike Marek’
s team finished
second in the division and beat every
other team in the division including
champion Riverview Gabriel Richard
at least once.
FJA won’
t compete in the league
tournament because its schedule con-
flicts with the observance of Shabbat.
Four first-round tournament games
will be played Saturday, Feb. 9, starting
at noon at Sacred Heart Academy in
Bloomfield Township.
The tournament semifinals will
be Tuesday, Feb. 12, at Birmingham
Marian High School, and the tour-
nament championship game will be
at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at the
University of Detroit’
s Calihan Hall, a
change from previous years when the
A-B and C-D tournament champion-
ship games were played on Sunday.
The Jaguars (10-6, 7-4) are disap-
pointed they’
ll be on the sidelines,
especially because they have a good
chance to finish the regular season 14-6
with a perfect 8-0 record at home.
FJA went 10-10 last season and was
4-16 the previous year, before Marek
took over.
“This is frustrating for our team
because we know we can do some-
thing in the league tournament,” said
senior captain and point guard Noah
Schlussel. “I understand this is the
Catholic League and they don’
t want
to play on Sunday. But we’
ll play on
any day we can if they’
d let us.”
Schlussel said he understands that
FJA opted out of playing in the boys
basketball league tournament when
the schedule was released last March.
Associate league members like FJA
have had the option since 2016 of
opting in or opting out of league tour-
naments in all sports based on their
school and religious calendars.
FJA has participated in some league
tournaments since the rules were
changed.
The FJA boys basketball team last
won a division championship in 2009.
At that time, associate league members
could not play in league tournaments.
Catholic League and FJA officials
acknowledged the FJA boys basketball
team’
s disappointment, but said noth-
ing can be done to help the Jaguars
and the team’
s five seniors this season.
“We’
re a faith-based organization.
We do everything we can to be accom-
modating to Frankel when we set our
regular-season and tournament sched-
ules,” said Catholic League director
Vic Michaels.
A spokeswoman from FJA con-
firmed the West Bloomfield school
receives dates for league tournaments
the previous March and “if we know
there is a conflict for any reason,
including Shabbat and Jewish holidays,
we opt out.
“It’
s understandable our boys bas-
ketball players are disappointed they
can’
t play in the league tournament,
but we hope they feel proud of the
hard work they’
ve put in and the fact
that they finished second in their divi-
sion.”
Michaels said it isn’
t logistically fea-
sible to change a league tournament
schedule after it has been set. The FJA
spokeswoman was understanding.
“The Catholic League and the
Archdiocese have a lot of factors to
weigh in their league tournament
schedules,” she said. “They have to
book the venues, schedule officials
and make sure the dates work with the
schedules of the full-league members.
FJA has deep respect for the work of
the Catholic League and we appreciate
their partnership.”
The FJA spokeswoman agreed with
Michaels that the school and league
have a solid working relationship that
hasn’
t been compromised by the situa-
tion with the FJA boys basketball team.
“FJA appreciates being a part of a
league with great teams and strong
competition that gives Jewish students
an opportunity to compete in stellar
athletics,” she said.
The Jaguars had something to cel-
ebrate Jan. 29, not long after they got
the news about the league tournament.
They beat visiting division opponent
Clarkston Everest Collegiate 37-34
on a banked-in three-pointer at the
buzzer by Ethan Mostyn, who scored
15 points.
“That was the first time we’
ve beaten
Everest in my four years on the Frankel
team,
” Schlussel said.
Everest Collegiate beat FJA 53-42 on
Dec. 20 in Clarkston.
The FJA boys basketball team ros-
ter includes seniors Ryan Otis, Jacob
Klein, Jordan Salesin, Zack Seiferheld
and Schlussel, juniors Will Bloomberg,
Rafie Iframiov, Mitch Blackman and
Mostyn, sophomores Jeremey Jenkins
and Brandon Gladstone and freshman
Caleb Kleinfeldt.
Angelo Lanava is the team’
s assistant
coach. ■
Send news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
40 February 7 • 2019
jn
FJA Jaguars Qualify But
Won’t Play in Catholic
League Tournament
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Frankel
Jewish Academy boys
basketball team
See player Ethan Mostyn’
s game-
winning shot at thejewishnews.com.
FJA
sports