NEW YORK, NY – The Yeshiva Maccabees men's basketball team clinched the 6th seed in the Skyline Conference playoffs with an 81-68 victory at Mount Saint Mary. They came into the game tied with MSM for the final spot, and the win gave them the edge. Yeshiva is now 11-13 (10-9) on the season with one more game to play before the quarterfinals.
Chen Biron had a career high 29 points on 10-17 shooting from the field and 7-10 from the 3-point line. The 7 shots from long range are also a career best for Biron who got all his points in 29 minutes played.
Martin Leibovich followed with a double-double 22 points and 12 rebounds, along with 5 assists.
Omer Haim had a strong night, with 12 points and 7 assists. The point guard also pulled down 5 rebounds for the Macs. As a team, Yeshiva shot 60% for the game and 53% from behind the arc. At the free throw line, they were 71%.
Chen Biron opened the game with a three pointer that gave the Macs a lead they never relinquished. The home team came as close as 1 point early in each half, but would never be able to tie or take the lead. Yeshiva pushed their lead to as much as 13 in the first half, thanks to a jumper from Biron with 5 minutes to play.
The second half started much like the first, with Biron nailing a 3 in the opening minutes for the first score.
Jeremy Pressman and
Martin Leibovich got in on the early scoring, giving the Macs a 12 point second half lead. With 15 minutes to play, and down 48-36, Mount Saint Mary went on an 11-0 run to bring the game back to 1 point, but Leibovich and
David Gilboa scored the next 6 points to get some breathing room. After that, the Macs extended their lead back to double digits and took the game easily 81-68.
Yeshiva has one more home game remaining in the regular season on Sunday. They will play host to NYU-Poly at 2PM. The game will recognize the team's 4 seniors;
Alex Claster,
David Gilboa,
Martin Leibovich, and
Aryeh Magilnick.
Following the regular season game on Sunday, the Macs will travel to Purchase College on Tuesday for the Quarterfinal match-up. The Macs have defeated Purchase twice this season. The winner will travel to the second seeded St. Joseph's Eagles on Thursday, who earned a bye in the first round.
The conference's top seed is Old Westbury, who will play the winner of the 4th seeded Martime vs. 5th seeded Farmingdale game which will be played at Maritime. The finals will be played at the highest remaining seed.
