NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University men's basketball team will compete in the Skyline Conference championship game, for the second year in a row, on Sunday afternoon. The No. 2-seeded Maccabees will battle No. 1 Farmingdale State, at the Nold Hall Athletic Complex, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

This year's title game will feature the last two Skyline tournament champions. YU comes in as the defending conference champions, while FSC earned the Skyline postseason championship in 2016-17.  The winner of Sunday's championship game will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament.

For fans who cannot make it to the game, MacsLive will be broadcasting the game at www.macslive.com. Farmingdale State will be providing live stats which can be accessed by clicking here. Students can come to the game for free by bringing their student ID. For all other fans, admission is $5.00. 

The Maccabees and Rams earned a share of the Skyline Regular Season title in 2018-19. FSC earned the No. 1 seed due to a better record against the next-highest team in the standings (Mount Saint Mary) during the year. 

Yeshiva and Farmingdale State are both ranked in the NCAA Division III Atlantic Region rankings. The Maccabees are ranked No. 8, while the Rams are just ahead at No. 7. The two teams split their head-to-head meetings during the season, with the road team winning each contest. Yeshiva won the first matchup, 88-83, at the Nold Athletic Complex back on December 11. Farmingdale won the rematch, at the Max Stern Athletic Center, by rallying in the closing seconds to snap Yeshiva's program-record 17-game winning streak on February 16.

The two teams in the championship game earned convincing victories in its respective Skyline semi-final games. Yeshiva defeated No. 3 the College at Old Westbury, at the Max Stern Athletic Center by a score of 103-70, on Friday afternoon. Farmingdale State was victorious against No. 4 Purchase College, 104-68, at the Nold Hall Athletic Complex, later that night.

Junior forward Gabriel Leifer has been a key to Yeshiva's run this year. The Lawrence native finished the regular season as the top rebounder in the conference with an average of 11.7 rebounds per game. He also distributed a Skyline-best 5.2 assists per contest. In Yeshiva's semi-final victory over Old Westbury, he scored 31 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and distributed seven assists.

Third-year guard Simcha Halpert has scored 1,331 career points which ranks him No. 8 on Yeshiva's all-time scoring list. This year, he leads the conference with 3.9 successful shots from beyond the arc per game and a .449 shooting percentage from 3-point range. 

First-year guard Ryan Turell won the Skyline scoring title with an average of 19.8 points per game during the regular season. He is currently producing 20.2 points per game which ranks him No. 1 in the conference.  The Los Angeles native scored 29 points in his first Skyline playoff game against Old Westbury, this past Friday afternoon.

For Farmingdale State, senior forward George Riefenstahl is currently averaging a double-double with 14.3 points per game and 11 rebounds per contest. Senior guard Matthew Graham is scoring 15.5 points per contest, while classmate Ali Mableton is producing 11.9 points and 3.2 assists per game. Junior guard Ryan Kennedy is scoring 11.8 point per contest.

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