NEW YORK, N.Y. – History will be made on Friday afternoon, as the Yeshiva University men's basketball team will compete in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in program history. The Maccabees will battle nationally-ranked No.11 and host York College of Pennsylvania at the Charles Wolf Gymnasium. Tip-off of the NCAA Tournament first round game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

For fans that cannot make it to the game, live stats can be viewed by clicking here. York (Pa.) will be providing live streaming video, which can be accessed by clicking on this link. Click here to view the full bracket of the 64-team field.

The Maccabees earned their automatic bid into the tournament by capturing their first Skyline Conference Championship in team history, defeating Purchase College by a score of 87-81, at the Purchase College Gymnasium. After getting off to a slow start in conference play, the Maccabees won eight-straight games, the longest unbeaten streak since joining the NCAA in 1956. Thanks to the streak, Yeshiva went from sitting outside of a playoff spot to start the second half of the season, to earning a home playoff game in the opening round of the Skyline Conference Championships.

In the first round game, YU came back from a 17-point deficit to defeat #5 Mount Saint Mary College, 80-67, at the raucous Max Stern Athletic Center.  In the Skyline Semifinal, Yeshiva knocked off #1 Farmingdale State, 77-75, in overtime before winning the championship over Purchase as the No. 4 seed.

Yeshiva currently has 18 wins this season, which is a program record. The Maccabees are no strangers to facing nationally-ranked competition. Yeshiva played at No. 3 Williams College, back on November 26, falling short by a score of 78-65. On December 21, Yeshiva hosted No. 6 Ramapo College at the Max Stern Athletic Center. The Maccabees and Roadrunners were tied, 62-62, with 10:47 remaining in regulation time. However, Ramapo was able to pull away and win by a score of 90-71.

Leading the way for the Maccabees will be sophomore guard Simcha Halpert, who was named to the Skyline All-Conference First Team. Halpert has scored 587 points in 2017-18, which is a program single-season record. In the Skyline Championship game at Purchase College, he produced a game-high 25 points, while shooting 6-for-9 from the field and 5-for-8 from 3-point range. The Los Angeles resident was named Most Outstanding Player of the Skyline Conference Championship game. He is currently producing 21 points per game, which leads the conference. Halpert was named the Skyline Player of the Week twice and earned a spot on the conference's weekly honor roll seven times. He was also named Honorable Mention by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association.

Sophomore forward Bar Alluf also earned a spot on the Skyline All-Conference First Team. Alluf is second in the conference with 17.9 points per game. He is also averaging 5.2 rebounds per contest and 3.3 assists per game. In the opening round of the Skyline Conference Championships against Mount Saint Mary, Alluf grabbed a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while dishing out five assists. He added 16 points with five dimes to help Yeshiva win the championship over Purchase College. The sophomore forward is shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from 3-point range, so far this season.

Since sophomore forward Gabriel Leifer joined the team in the second half of the season, Yeshiva is 12-2. The Lawrence resident sparked the Maccabees from being out of a playoff spot to hosting a first round game of the Skyline Championships, and then eventually the first championship and NCAA bid in program history. For the season, Leifer is averaging a double-double with 17.4 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. The rookie phenom was named Honorable Mention by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association and was inducted into the D3hoops.com Team of the Week, during the season. He earned Skyline Rookie of the Week accolades twice and was named to the Skyline All-Conference Second Team.

The Spartans have dominated throughout the season, on their way to winning the Capital Athletic Conference Championship as the No.2 seed. York (Pa.) earned a share of the CAC Regular Season title. The Spartans went 23-4 overall and an impressive 11-1 on its home court. The program has turned around as the Spartans went 5-20 just three seasons ago.

For York (Pa.), Dalton Myers has scored 17.5 points per game with 4.6 rebounds per contest to earn a spot on the CAC All-Conference first team. Blayde Reich also earned a spot on the All-Conference first team, scoring 17 points with 7.6 boards per contest.

If Yeshiva wins on Friday afternoon, the Maccabees will play the winner of the Nazareth-Hamilton first round matchup, on Saturday evening at 8:30 p.m.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, @YUathletics, for in-game updates. Check out www.yumacs.com for the latest updates.