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TI Basketball Coach Calls Win "A Nice Surprise".........posted Mar 20, 2006

It didn't rank as one of the great upsets of the NCAA's "March Madness" tournament, but Tikvat Israel pulled off what its coach called "a nice surprise," winning its preliminary round playoff game in the Montgomery County synagogue basketball league on March 19.

In a defensive struggle between the 8th vs. 9th seeded teams in the nine-member circuit, the winless TI team (0-8 in the regular season) nipped Shaare Tefila Red, 17-16. The 22-minute play-in game qualified TI for two rounds of post-season play, including one game later the same morning. In that contest, TI played the 5th seed, Oseh Shalom A, and dropped a lopsided 103-67 contest, despite the team's highest scoring output of the 2006 season.

In the first game, Mark Bardeski and Warren Berger provided the bulk of the scoring, while Jerry Danoff, TI's oldest player, hit a key basket that proved to be the game-winner.

In the second game, Bardeski and David Blum were the high scorers for TI with Mark Waldman, Al Sandler and Berger providing support on the offensive end. "Many others made significant contributions of between two and four points," said Berger, who is TI's head coach.

The eight teams in the playoffs are divided into two tiers. By winning the play-in game, TI participated in the bottom tier, composed of the 5th through 8th seeds. Only the top four teams in the regular season are in the upper tier and eligible to be crowned the champion of the playoffs.

TI will play its final post-season match against Shaare Torah (4-4 in regular season) at 10 a.m. on March 26.

In the synagogue league's championship game at 11 a.m., B'nai Shalom Purple squares off against Oseh Shalom B.

All league games are played at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville.