NEW YORK, N.Y. – The #4 Yeshiva University men's basketball team overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat #5 Mount Saint Mary in a Skyline Conference first round game, 80-67, at the packed Max Stern Athletic Center on Tuesday evening. Yeshiva advances to the semi-final round of the Skyline Conference championships and will face the defending conference champion and No. 1 seed Farmingdale State.

With the win, Yeshiva now has 16 wins which ties a program record. 

"The resiliency our guys show night in and night out is just special," Yeshiva University head coach Elliot Steinmetz said. "To fall behind early and just never stop going takes a special kind of chemistry. These kids have that."

After getting off to a slow start shooting the ball, Yeshiva (16-12) turned it on in the second half to shoot 46.7 percent overall. The Maccabees outscored the Knights, 45-28, in the final 20 minutes of the contest. Yeshiva won the battle of the boards, 31-24.

Sophomore forward Bar Alluf and classmate Gabriel Leifer each produced a double-double, with the former scoring 18 points with 12 rebounds, and the latter producing 17 points with 13 boards. Each player dished out five assists. Sophomore guard Simcha Halpert contributed to Yeshiva's balanced scoring with 15 points, while junior guard Justin Hod added 13 points with two assists.

A successful layup by Leifer gave Yeshiva an early 7-4 lead. However, Mount Saint Mary (13-13) shifted momentum into its favor by surging to a 24-4 run, in a span of 8:22, to take a commanding 28-11 advantage with 9:34 remaining in the half. From that point on, Yeshiva would begin to chip away, as sophomore forward Kevin Bokor laid it up and in to cut the deficit to 13 with 8:15 left until intermission.

Later in the half, Justin Hod drilled a 3-point field goal to pull YU to within 10, at 35-25, with 2:46 left to play. With less than a minute to go, Leifer drained a 3-point shot of his own to narrow Yeshiva's deficit to 37-32. After the Knights regained a seven-point advantage, Halpert drilled a shot from beyond the arc, with four seconds remaining, to pull Yeshiva closer. Both teams went into the locker room with Mount Saint Mary protecting a 39-35 lead.

Halpert got Yeshiva closer in the second half, as his 3-pointer made it a one possession game, at 43-40, just over a minute in. After the Knights extended their lead to 49-42, Halpert answered with another shot from downtown to pull the Blue and White to within four, at 49-45, with 14:38 remaining in regulation time. Just over a minute later, Justin Hod pulled YU even closer, as his 3-point shot narrowed the Knights' lead to 49-48. He then forced a steal on the next play. On the ensuing possession, Bokor found Leifer who laid it up and in to put Yeshiva in front, 50-49 with 12:28 remaining.

On the next sequence, Bokor grabbed an offensive rebound and successfully executed the putback, while being fouled. He drilled a shot from the charity stripe to complete the traditional three-point play, and extend YU's lead to 53-49. On the next possession, sophomore guard Tyler Hod forced a steal. Alluf passed the ball back to Tyler Hod, who laid it up and in on a fast break, while being fouled. He drained the free throw for the Maccabees' second straight three-point play, to increase the home team's lead to 56-49, with 11:18 to go.

Later in the half, Alluf's 3-point field goal capped off an 8-0 run by the Maccabees, putting the higher seed up by a score of 66-53, with 7:34 left to play in regulation time. Mount Saint Mary would counter with an 8-1 run to pull the visiting team to within six, at 67-61, with 3:26 to go. Halpert successfully hit a pair of free throws to stop the Knights' momentum and increase YU's lead to eight, with 2:54 left. After Leifer blocked Andrew Holmes' shot, Justin Hod drained yet another 3-point field goal to put Yeshiva up by double-figures with 2:13 left in the second half, much to the delight of the raucous crowd. Mount Saint Mary could not go on another run, as Yeshiva went on to clinch a berth in the Skyline semifinal game.

For the evening, Bokor and sophomore forward Daniel Katz each scored seven points, with the former grabbing four rebounds and distributing three assists. Tyler Hod added three points with five rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals. Senior forward Eli Mamann, freshman guard Yoav Deutsch, and freshman forward Michael Bixon each grabbed a rebound. Freshman guard Sammy Mandel made his first appearance in a postseason game.

For the Knights, Daniel Wolff scored his 1,000^th career point during the contest. He produced 18 points with eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal.

The semi-final matchup between #4 Yeshiva and #1 Farmingdale will take place on Thursday, at the Nold Hall Athletic Complex, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Details regarding a fan bus will be announced soon.