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.

