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The boys won the championship, the girls made it to the semifinals and the Tehiyah Timberwolves' basketball coach couldn't be prouder.

"It was a very exciting week," said Barry Kleiman, a Tehiyah middle school parent and one of the few unpaid basketball coaches in the East Bay Middle School Athletic League. "I'm a very proud guy for my kids."

Tehiyah's 33-26 victory over Windrush School on Thursday of last week made the El Cerrito Jewish day school the boys' champions in their league. But it was only one highlight of a season in which, Kleiman hopes, the 20 boys and 18 girls learned values that extend beyond basketball.

"The goal of the game is to win, but not at all costs," said Kleiman.

The girls' team finished the regular season tied for second place in the league, before losing to Windrush in the tournament.

"I don't want to diminish what the girls did just because the boys won the championship," Kleiman said.

The coach focuses on teamwork. "My goal is to learn the lessons of playing together."

One result is an emphasis on defense. While not everyone can excel in shooting baskets, the coach said, "the only thing that defense takes is determination and heart."

Defense ultimately won the championship. The Tehiyah boys had a seven-point lead with 2:40 left in the game. At that point "it's basically a game of keepaway" so that the other team can't score, said Kleiman.

What made him proudest about the cham-

pionship game, he said, was the community support. Parents who didn't even have kids on the team filled the stands, and the girls jumped up and down with the boys, shouting "Tehiyah! Tehiyah!" after the boys won.

In explaining the connection he feels with his players, Kleiman, whose sixth-grade son and eighth-grade daughter play on the teams, said, "I started out this season with two children and ended up with 38."

The players "became like a family," agreed eighth-grade player Jessica Nagel.

The basketball program reflects the Jewish values of community and respect, Kleiman believes.

"I can't possibly comment on what we're trying to do and how Torah coincides, but I just know they do — it's sek'l, it's common sense," said the coach.

"It was…kind of understood" that Tehiyah basketball would incorporate Jewish values, said Mark Roth, whose 8th-grade son Misha played on the team.

Tehiyah's success challenged the stereotype that Jews are mediocre athletes. "Religious kids are not [expected] to be good at sports," said Mira Ben-Oni, whose eighth-grade twin sons play on the team.

But "the proof is in the pudding," said Kleiman.

Eighth-grader Rafi Rosen, who wears a kippah and keeps kosher, says he's never personally run into stereotypes about Jewish athletes. Rafi had been shy about shooting, according to the coach. But with 40 seconds left in the semifinal game and Tehiyah behind by two points, he "hit a big shot to tie the game," Kleiman said. Tehiyah went on to win that game, 57-54.

"Exciting" was the word used by parents and students to describe the season. "It was not only exciting during the last [game]," said parent Dalia Nagel. "The whole season was exciting" because most of the girls were new to the game.

"I wouldn't miss a game," said Mira Ben-Oni. Her son Noam added that the basketball program is "the best thing that ever happened to the school."

On Thursday, March 26, the Tehiyah boys' varsity team will play during halftime at the Warriors-Sonics game. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. (with halftime occurring at about 8:30 p.m.) at the New Arena in Oakland.