34 | JANUARY 19 • 2023

O

ne was fun — and
successful — so how
about another?
Riding a wave of momen-
tum from a Jewish Heritage
Night game held Dec. 4 by the
Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars
Arena, a Jewish Heritage Night
has been scheduled for the
Motor City Cruise, the Pistons’
G League affiliate.
It will be Feb.
13 against the
Greensboro (N.C.)
Swarm, the G
League affiliate
of the Charlotte
Hornets, at
the Wayne State University
Fieldhouse, the Cruise’s home
court. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m.
Nikki Wald, a Pistons group
sales executive who orchestrat-
ed the Pistons’ Jewish Heritage
Night festivities, has done the
same thing for the Cruise.
The Cruise’s Jewish Heritage
Night is extra special because
Orthodox Jew Ryan Turell,
who wears a Pistons-themed

blue yarmulke when he’s on
the basketball court, is on the
Cruise’s roster.
Turell, a 6-foot-7 small for-
ward from Los Angeles and
Valley Torah High School in
Valley Village, Calif., who was
a scoring machine in college
at Yeshiva University in New
York City, was a first-round G
League draft choice last year by
the Cruise. He hopes to be the
first Orthodox Jew to play in
the NBA.
He was averaging 6.0 points
and 1.5 rebounds per game for
the Cruise as of early January.
“The biggest reason for the
Cruise’s Jewish Heritage Night
is to support Ryan, but it’s also
a carryover of the success we
had with the Pistons’ Jewish
Heritage Night,” Wald said.
There were 1,037 tickets sold
for the Pistons’ Jewish Heritage
Night in a crowd of 20,008.
Nearly three times as many
Jewish Heritage Night tickets
were sold this year compared
to last year.

Turell participated in the
Pistons’ festivities, signing
autographs and taking photos
with fans.
Ticket packages for the
Cruise’s Jewish Heritage Night
include a discounted ticket,
post-game meet-and-greet with
Turell, and a chance to win
Turell-autographed memora-
bilia.
Kosher food and beverages
will be available for purchase.
There are plans to have a half-
time exhibition game between
basketball teams from Hillel
Day School and Farber Hebrew
Day School.
Cruise Jewish Heritage Night
tickets are available at pistons.
com/jewish4cruise. The dead-
line to purchase tickets is 24
hours before the game. Have a
question? Wald can be reached
at (313) 771-0189 or nwald@
pistons.com.
Another Jewish Heritage
Night is on the Cruise’s cal-
endar. The College Park
Skyhawks, G League affiliate of
the Atlanta Hawks, will have a
special night Jan. 29 when the

Cruise is in town.
Turell was labeled a gener-
ational talent at Yeshiva after
setting school records for
most points in a season (786
last year) and career (2,158).
He averaged 27.1 points per
game last season, the most of
any college basketball player at
any level and was named the
national Division III Player of
the Year.
There’s another star on the
horizon at Yeshiva. He’s soph-
omore Zevi Samet, a 6-foot-1
guard from Monsey, N.Y., and
the Torah Academy of Bergen
County in Teaneck, N.J., who
was 11-for-15 on three-point-
ers and scored 40 points vs. St.
Joseph’s in a recent game after
tossing in 38 points two games
earlier in his home debut.
Samet was averaging 21.7
points per game for Yeshiva
in early January and had been
named Skyline Conference
Player of the Week several
times.

Send sports news to

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

SPORTS

Orthodox Jewish basketball player Ryan Turell will be in
the spotlight at a Motor City Cruise game Feb. 13.
Jewish Heritage Night 2.0

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Ryan Turell

MOTOR CITY CRUISE

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY

Ryan Turell heads to
the basket during his
high-scoring career at
Yeshiva University.

DETROIT PISTONS

Motor City Cruise basketball player Ryan Turell
signs autographs for fans at the Detroit Pistons’
Jewish Heritage Night game last month.