Celebrations In Israel

Hey, it looks like it'll be cooling off a bit in Princeton the next few days.

The high temperature is only expected to be 85 today and 88 tomorrow. That's downright chilly compared to how it's been. 

In the 14-day forecast that TigerBlog looked at, there were only four days listed that were less than 90 for the high, and today and tomorrow are two of them. 

As Mark Twain once said: Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.

Speaking of places that are hot in the summer, today TigerBlog has some updates from the recently completed Maccabiah Games in Israel. 

He starts today with his congratulations to Noa Levy.

The daughter of former Princeton men's basketball center and longtime assistant coach Howard Levy won two medals in track and field at the Games, taking bronze in the high jump and then silver with the 4x400 relay United States team. Noa was a track and field athlete at Lehigh, where she earned All-Patriot League honors.

Howard, as you may recall, won gold in the Maccabiah Games with the U.S. in basketball in the 1980s.

Now this is a great picture. That's Noa, with her parents Howard and Riva. There's nothing like a great family celebration shot.

There were some other great celebration shots involving Princeton athletes in Israel.

In women's basketball, Abby Meyers led the United States team to a gold medal, averaging 18.4 points per game and having 16 points and 11 rebounds in the Americans' 88-55 win over Israel in the championship game.

The U.S. team dominated the field, winning each game by at least 25 points and winning three of five by at least 30. Meyers, of course, is no stranger to leading teams to championships and winning games by wide margins. She did both this past winter for the Tigers, leading them to the Ivy title and winning all 14 league games by double figures. 

She also had 29 points in a 69-62 NCAA tournament win over Kentucky in the first round. She graduated this spring with a year of eligibility left, and she'll use that eligibility to play at Maryland. TB is guessing she is headed to the WNBA after that. 

On the men's side of the basketball tournament, TB learned that Princeton alum Scott Greenman did not coach the American team after getting a new job as an assistant at Chattanooga. Princeton assistant coach Skye Ettin was on the U.S. bench, with former Oklahoma State guard and current broadcaster Doug Gottleib also on the bench.

Like the women, the American men also won gold.

Princeton was represented by Blake Peters as well, and the rising sophomore played a key role in the American championship, including with a 24-point game that included seven threes in a win over Israel. Also like Meyers, Ettin and Peters are used to winning as well; Princeton's men's were also Ivy League champion this past season.

Here's another great celebration shot:

Unlike the women, the men were pushed, at least by one opponent. The U.S. team went 6-0, with four of those wins by at least 20 points. The two that weren't were both against France, with a 90-77 win in the round-robin portion and then an 81-70 win in the final.

The championship game win did not come easily, as the U.S. trailed at halftime 37-35. Would there be a major upset? No, as the U.S. outscored the French 44-35 in the second half to win. 

It's not always easy to find yourself down at the half in a tournament in which you've basically cruised and then turn it up after intermission. Actually, it's never really easy to do so, and it's a real testament to a team's character when it can turn it on at that point, when things aren't going easily. That's exactly what the U.S. team had to do, and did.

Peters finished the championship game with 10 points, including three more made threes, and three rebounds. For the tournament he averaged 15.2 points per game. 

Congratulations to the Princetonians who won medals in Israel. And to Noa Levy, who might as well be a Princetonian too.