Special to the Reporter

The Northwest Yeshiva High School (NYHS) class 1B boys basketball team improved to 8-3 with a comeback victory over Puget Sound Adventist, 62-56, on Jan. 13.

As they have all season, the Lions’ two captains led the way.

At their home gym at the Seattle Hebrew Academy, small forward Joe Benoliel continued his impressive senior campaign, scoring a game-high 25 points, while junior point guard Evan Kaufthal nearly registered a triple-double with 15 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds.

NYHS currently ranks 13th out of 81 class 1B schools in the WIAA State RPI rankings and has played its entire season without last year’s leading scorer, sophomore Sam Weichbrodt (16.7 ppg), who has been out with a back injury.

Weichbrodt is slated to finally return when the Lions visit Northwest Christian (Lacey) on Jan. 18.

The Lions head coach is 1992 Mercer Island High School graduate Steve Bunin.