NEW YORK – The nationally ranked No. 15 Yeshiva University men's basketball team will compete in the quarterfinal round of the Skyline Conference Championships, on Tuesday evening. The No. 1-seed Maccabees with host the No. 8-seed Mariners of Merchant Marine, at the Max Stern Athletic Center, beginning at 8:00 p.m.

No tickets are required to attend the quarterfinal game. Seating will be first come, first served. Tickets will be required for the semifinal (Thursday at 8:00 p.m.) and championship games (Sunday at 1:00 p.m.), if the Maccabees are able to advance to those rounds. 

Fans who cannot attend Tuesday's contest can follow the action on our live stats page and watch the video broadcast at YUMacs.com/MacsLive. Be sure to check out the full bracket of the Skyline Conference Championships by clicking here.

Yeshiva aims for its second Skyline championship and NCAA Tournament bid in program history. YU accomplished both of those accolades back in 2017-18. It has been a historic 2019-20 season for YU, earning its first national ranking in school history, back on January 27, and has risen in the rankings in each of the last four weeks (from No. 24 to No. 22 to No. 21 and now No. 15). YU is also ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Atlantic region, its highest spot in team history.

This season, the Macs finished the regular season with a program all-time best record of 24-1 and are currently on a school-record 24-game winning streak since the season opener. The Maccabees went undefeated in the Skyline, at 16-0, to earn its first league regular season title in program history.

This will be the second time Yeshiva has hosted USMMA, at the Max Stern Athletic Center, this season. The Maccabees won the first contest, 80-56, back on January 25.

The Mariners (10-15, 6-10) rallied to earn the eighth seed, and their first postseason appearance in six years, by winning their last two conference games of the season. The first was an upset victory over second-place Purchase College by a score of 75-65, at Kings Point, back on February 18. In a do-or-die game in the regular season finale at Maritime College, four days later, Merchant Marine trailed by 10 with 4:55 remaining in regulation time but outscored the Privateers, 21-6, the rest of the way to earn the thrilling come-from-behind victory and a spot in the Skyline Tournament.

Leading the way for the Maccabees has been the reigning Skyline Conference Player of the Year, Gabriel Leifer. The Lawrence native is averaging a double-double per game this season with 16.7 points and a conference-best 13.5 rebounds. The senior forward tops the Skyline with 6.3 assists per contest and has generated two triple-doubles so far this year.

After being named the Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year in 2018-19, second-year guard Ryan Turell is continuing to be an elite player, scoring a Skyline-best 23.3 points per contest. The Los Angeles native leads the conference with a shooting percentage of 63.9. The former Skyline Rookie of the Year is the only sophomore in school history to reach the 1,000-career point milestone. He reached the scoring plateau in just 47 games played, which is the fastest in the history of the program.

Senior guard Simcha Halpert is shooting 50.0% from the field this season, including 43.0% from beyond the arc. The two-time Skyline All-Conference First Team member is third on YU's All-Time scoring list with 1,773 career points.

For the Mariners, sophomore forward Blaine McDonough is scoring 11.4 points and grabbing a team-best 7.2 rebounds per contest. Junior guard James Walsh is the team's leading scorer with 13.5 points per game.

Be sure to check out yumacs.com and all of our social media channels for the latest updates regarding the Maccabees' run in the Skyline Conference Championships. Like us on Facebook (Yeshiva Athletics) and follow us on both Twitter (@YUathletics) and Instagram (@yeshivaathletics).