SEPTEMBER 23 • 2021 | 41

T

here couldn’t have
been a more exciting
finish to the first
season of an improbable
league.
Young Israel of Oak Park
and a team headed by Dylan
Bressler locked up in a
close battle in the playoff
championship game of the
new Detroit Shul Basketball
League last month at Farber
Hebrew Day School in
Southfield.
Down by eight points
with about two minutes left,
Young Israel of Oak Park
called a timeout.
“We were nervous. We
needed to do something,”
said player Avi Katz.
What Young Israel of Oak
Park did was go back to what
made it a successful team all
season long.
“Play good defense. Get
good shots. Play unselfish
basketball,” Katz said.
Ruslan Shamayev sank
a layup with less than 10
seconds to go put Young
Israel of Oak Park in front
70-69.
A Bressler player missed
two free throws just before
the buzzer, and Young Israel
of Oak Park was the league
champion.
Competition was a big
part of the weekly league,
of course. So was the

camaraderie among the
players on the five teams.
“It was a friendly league.
There were no issues among
the players,” Katz said. “It
seemed like everyone in the
league knew each other and it
was fun to hang out together
each week.”
The league was put
together over a few frantic
days in early July
by 20-year-old
basketball fan
Daniel Shamayev,
who used social
media and other
communication
tools to get the
word out about
the league.
Mother Nature didn’t
help much after the league
schedule was set.
Opening night and a
playoff night were canceled
and had to be rescheduled
because of power outages
caused by storms.
About 40 men from
Orthodox shuls played in
the league. Many of them
are Farber grads, like Daniel
Shamayev. Referees were paid
to officiate games, with the
money coming from team
fees.
“Daniel Shamayev did
a great job organizing the
league,” Katz said. “I was
very impressed with his

enthusiasm. It was so good to
have something like this to
do after COVID shut things
down for such a long time.”
Katz and his brother Yoni
Katz were joined on the
Young Israel of Oak Park
team by Ruslan Shamayev
(no relation to Daniel
Shamayev), Josh Sabes, Alex
Gross, Yitsy Sternheim, Yossi
Gottfried and Yosef Klein.
The players range in age
from their 20s to about 40.
“Josh Sabes
helped me put
the team together.
He’s a great guy,”
Avi Katz said.
Ruslin
Shamayev played
basketball for
Berkley High School. Gross
played basketball for Farber
and Berkley. The Katz
brothers both were Farber
basketball players.
“Even though we’d never
been on the same basketball
team together, we all know
each other and a lot of
us have played basketball
together,” Avi Katz said.
“It was a group effort for us
all season long. We all helped
the team, from making sure
we knew when our games
were scheduled to making
sure we stayed connected.”
Young Israel of Oak
Park and Bressler’s team

were dominant during the
season, finishing 7-1 and
6-2, respectively, during the
regular season and playoffs.
No other team had a better
than .500 record.
Dovid Ben Nuchim-Aish
Kodesh from Oak Park (3-4),
Keter Torah Synagogue from
West Bloomfield (2-5) and
Young Israel of Southfield
(1-6) were the other teams in
the league.
Bressler was the league’s
leading scorer with 124
points during the regular
season and his team’s two
playoff games. Katz was No.
2 on the league scoring list
with 103 points, also in eight
games.
Daniel Shamayev hoped
to have an expanded league,
called the Detroit Synagogue
Basketball League, play this
fall, but it didn’t happen
because of COVID-19
concerns caused by the Delta
variant.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a
spring season,” he said. “I
have eight teams confirmed
and there may be a few more
from Temple Israel.
“I’d like to have two venues
for league play next spring,
one in West Bloomfield and
one in Southfield.”

Please send sports news to

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

It was a memorable inaugural season for
the Detroit Shul Basketball League.

Friends, Power Outages and a
Championship-Winning Layup

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SPORTS

Daniel
Shamayev

Avi Katz