Box Score NEW YORK - Senior forward
Dovie Hoffman (Tarzana, Calif.) scored a game-high 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting, leading four Yeshiva University men's basketball players in double figures Saturday night at Max Stern Athletic Center, as the host Maccabees moved to 1-1 in Skyline Conference action with a hard-fought, 79-73 victory over visiting The Sage Colleges.
For YU, long-time head coach Dr. Jonathan Halpert picked up career victory No. 399 in the triumph over the Gators (3-2, 0-1 Skyline).
The Maccabees shot very efficiently from the field, earning season-high percentages of .549 (28-for-51) overall, as well as a 7-for-11 clip (.636) from beyond the 3-point arc.
Hoffman (3-for-5 3FG) pulled down a game-best eight rebounds for Yeshiva, helping his squad to a 32-26 advantage on the glass. Fellow senior
Gil Bash (Tel Aviv, Israel) netted 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting, and tied with junior low-post reserve,
Yoni Eckmann (Wynnewood, Pa.) with five assists. Juniors
Benjy Ritholtz (W. Hempstead, N.Y.) and
Shlomo Weissberg (Skokie, Ill.; 7 reb.) contributed 10 points apiece to the winning effort.
Yeshiva led by as many as six in the first half, including a 24-18 margin when Eckmann scored on a put-back with 6:15 remaining. The visiting Gators pulled ahead with less than five seconds remaining in the frame on a pair of free throws, before YU junior point guard
Eitan Selevan (Teaneck, N.J.) scored on his only shot of the contest when he hit a running 3-pointer from the right wing to give the hosts a 37-36 halftime lead.
Selevan's trey sparked an eight-point spurt by YU over the span of two minutes of game play, and a later 11-2 run gave the Macs their largest lead of the season, 62-48, when Hoffman canned a trifecta with just over 11 minutes remaining. A conventional 3-point play by sophomore
Netanel Weinstein (Efrat, Israel) pushed the advantage to 15 (65-50) with 10-plus minutes to go, before Yeshiva had to hold off a furious rally by Sage. The Gators scored the next eight points of the contest, part of a 16-2 run that pulled the visitors within one (67-66) with 3:47 left.. From there, freshman guard
Yosef Rosenthal (W. Hempstead, N.Y.) buried a pair of free throws in YU's next trip down the floor, part of an 8-for-12 performance at the charity stripe over the final three-plus minutes to seal the win.
Yeshiva is back in Skyline Conference action at Max Stern Athletic Center Monday night, as the Blue Knights of Mount Saint Mary College come to Manhattan for an 8 p.m. tip-off.
