NEW YORK – The Yeshiva University men's basketball team dropped its non-conference contest to Immaculata University, 69-63, at Max Stern Athletic Center on Wednesday evening.

The Maccabees (8-6) had a 12-point lead in the opening half, but the Mighty Macs (3-6) outscored YU, 44-32, in the second stanza to earn the come-from-behind victory. Immaculata shot 66.6% (25-for-45) from the field during the final 20 minutes of the contest to spark its rally.

Leading the way for Yeshiva was senior forward Matan Zucker who scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out six assists, and forced two steals. Junior guard Oren Betesh had a game-high 17 points off the bench, while registering a pair of steals and an assist. Freshman forward Roy Itcovichi produced 12 points, snatched six boards, and picked up two steals. Rookie guard Zevi Samet netted 10 points, clutched three caroms, delivered two assists, and forced a steal.

YU got off to a strong start in the game as a successful jump shot from Betesh gave the Blue and White its largest lead of the evening, at 26-14, with 6:14 left to go before the break. The Might Macs tilted the momentum by scoring six unanswered points to slice their deficit in half. Yeshiva answered as Itcovichi took a feed from sophomore guard Max Zakheim and buried a triple to inflate YU's benefit to 29-20 with 3:03 to go in the period.

Immaculata finished the first half strong as a 3-point field goal by junior guard Brandon Perez cut Yeshiva's lead to 31-25 and that would be the score after 20 minutes of play.

The Mighty Macs' strong finish to the first half carried over into the second, as they scored eight unanswered points to take their first lead of the game, 33-31, with 16:10 remaining in regulation time. Samet disrupted the opposition's momentum with a triple to put the Maccabees back in front. Later in the second half, Betesh buried a shot from downtown the extend Yeshiva's vantage to 44-41 with 13:03 left.

Immaculata then took over the game by going on a 14-2 run in a span of 4:12 to take a 55-46 hold with 8:14 to go in the second half. Yeshiva countered with a rally of its own, scoring seven unanswered points to pull to within two, at 55-53, with 6:15 remaining. Samet began the run with a triple and then Zucker finished it with a pair of free throws and then a layup.

The Might Macs answered right back as a key 3-point basket by senior forward Tyler Tillary put his team back up by five. Zucker made it a one-possession game thanks to his layup to narrow YU's deficit to 58-55 with 3:26 to go.

After Immaculata increased its lead to five, Samet got Yeshiva closer with a layup to shrink YU's gap to 61-58 with 1:43 to go. Immaculata drew a foul on the next possession which sent sophomore guard John Flood to the line. He drained an important free throw to make it a two-possession game at 62-58 with just over a minute and a half remaining. Yeshiva could not get the contest any closer as Immaculata nailed free throws throughout the remainder of the game to clinch the come-from-behind non-conference victory.

For the Mighty Macs, Tiller had 14 points. Senior forward Tim Schultice tallied 13 points, nine rebounds, and four steals.

Yeshiva will return to Max Stern Athletic Center on Thursday, December 29, for a showdown against Tufts University. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m.