NEW YORK, NY - Cementing winning as a YU Hannukah tradition, the Yeshiva men's basketball team felled St. Joseph's University Brooklyn, defeating the Bears by a score of 87-63 on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Firing on all cylinders, the Maccabee offensive machine cranked out big numbers across the board, with
Max Zakheim (25),
Zevi Samet (18),
Or Sundjyvsky (15) and
Dothan Bardichev (11) all putting up double-digit point totals.
Proving a monster on the glass on top of his offensive output, Sundjyvsky's 13 rebounds served as more than enough to net the New Jersey native a double-double on the night.
Defensively, Yeshiva saw production up and down the depth chart, with Samet (4), Zakheim (3),
Adi Markovich (3) and Bardichev (2) all swiping multiple steals, while Sundjyvsky, Bardichev and
Effy Freundlich all recorded a block.
With the win, the Macs are now 8-5, 6-1 in conference.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Yeshiva struggled to get on the board early, seeing SJBK jump out to a 6-0 lead through the first three minutes of play. However once a Samet layup broke YU's scoring drought, the Macs turned on the faucet full blast, racing out to an 8-6 advantage just two and a half minutes later.
- The Macs's margin would grow to seven over the next dozen possessions, with the scoreboard reading 20-13 in favor of the men in blue and white with 9:20 remaining. Despite this sizable lead however, SJBK continued to scrap, chipping away at YU's margin until it was narrowed to just one at 26-25 with 4:42 left in the half.
- Unphased, head coach Elliot Steinmetz gave the go-ahead to open up the floodgates to close out the half, seeing his boys' lead jump out to as many as 13, before ultimately carrying a 43-33 margin into the break.
- Seemingly invigorated by a cutthroat halftime Latka eating competition, the Macs continued to press come the second half, growing their edge to 58-40 thanks to the sharpshooting of Bardichev and Markovitch combined with the rim-running of Samet and Sundjyvsky.
- Yeshiva's lead would continue to grow over the rest of the contest, as SJBK never again came within single digits of YU's point total. Come the final buzzer, the Macs, who had long since subbed out their starters in order to give the end of their bench valuable playing time, walked away with an 87-63 win.
- As the final minutes wound down, the Macs saw important firsts out on the court, as sophomores Hillel Baynash and Ari Shklyar secured the first points of their YU careers, with Baynash netting a deep three while Shklyar bodied a defender for a tough layup.
MAC LEADERS
- Points: Zakheim (25), Samet (18), Sundjyvsky (15), Bardichev (11)
- Assists: Markovitch (5), Zakheim (4), Bardichev (4)
- Rebounds: Sundjyvsky (13), Bardichev (4), Samet (4)
- Steals: Samet (4), Markovich (3), Zakheim (3)
- Blocks: Bardichev (1), Freundlich (1), Sundjyvsky (1)
UP NEXT
Hitting the road for their final two away games of the year, the Macs will first travel to St. Joseph's University Long Island on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1:00 PM.
