Box Score FARMINGDALE, N.Y. - Senior
Gil Bash (Tel Aviv, Israel) and junior
Shlomo Weissberg (Skokie, Ill.) picked up double-doubles Tuesday night, but it was not enough for the Yeshiva University men's basketball team, which fought through 14 lead changes but was unable to hang on in a narrow 68-61, Skyline Conference contest at host Farmingdale State College.
The visiting Maccabees (9-14, 5-11 Skyline), which led as late as with 9:40 remaining in the game and were tied at 49-all on junior
Yoni Eckmann's (Wynnewood, Pa.) tip-in with 6:12 to go, remain one game ahead in the loss column over St. Joseph's College of Long Island (4-12) and College of Mount Saint Vincent (5-12), with two contests left this week, for sixth place in the Skyline Conference standings. The top-six teams advance to the Skyline Conference Championships, which get underway Feb. 19.
Bash led YU with 14 points and a team-best 10 assists, marking his second double-double of the season (Dec. 11, vs. Mount Saint Vincent -- 22 pts., 10 asst.). Weissberg added 12 points and 10 boards, while senior
Dovie Hoffman (Tarzana, Calif.) poured in 11 points. The Maccabees shot 11-for-21 (.524) from 3-point range on the night, including a 3-for-4 effort from Hoffman and a 3-for-7 display from junior
Benjy Ritholtz (W. Hempstead, N.Y.).
The score was knotted at 29-all at halftime, before the teams flip-flopped the lead a handful of times over the first 10-plus minutes of the second stanza. Junior
Eitan Selevan (Teaneck, N.J.) buried a go-ahead triple for YU with 9:50 remaining (YU, 47-45), before the Rams went back ahead by two, 49-47, on an AJ Mathews free-throw with 7:28 on the clock. Eckmann then tipped home the tying bucket with 6:12 left, before FSC ran off the next seven points to take control for good.
Head coach Dr. Jonathan Halpert's Yeshiva side is back in Skyline action Thursday night (Feb. 14), for a crucial 8 p.m. tip-off at NYU-Poly in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Maccabees' regular-season wraps up on the road Saturday night (Feb. 16), with an 8:30 p.m. Skyline showdown at Maritime (N.Y.) College.
