NEW YORK, NY - Playing in their final home game of the regular season, the Yeshiva men's basketball team fell to the University of Mount Saint Vincent, losing to the Dolphins by a score of 82-74 on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
 
Offensively, the Maccabees were carried by a pair of double-doubles from Roy Itcovichi and Dothan Bardichev. Itcovichi led the team in scoring, putting up a personal-best 27 points while pulling down a season high 12 rebounds. Bardichev found similar success distributing the ball, tallying 16 points, a career-high 16 rebounds and eight assists, coming just two dishes away from a triple-double.
 
While usually the offensive motor of the team, Zevi Samet shone instead on defense, snagging six steals on the night, eclipsing his previous career best of four in the process.
 
With the loss, the Macs are now 13-11, 10-5 in conference play.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Yeshiva fell behind early, trailing 12-4 following just the first three minutes of play. However, intent on showing their opponent why they were at the top of their division, the Macs stormed back, tying the game at 12-all and briefly taking the lead at 14-12 off of buckets from Bardichev, Samet and Itcovichi.
   
• While YU would quickly lose their short lived advantage, both teams would spend the next six minutes trading baskets back and forth, as the scoreboard read 20-20 with 10:31 remaining. Despite the efforts of the Yeshiva attack however, UMSV were able to secure some breathing room over the back half of the first period, with the Macs going into the break down 37-29.
   
• Undeterred by their first half struggles, the Maccabees opened up the second on fire, embarking on a dominant 22-2 run over the first seven minutes to not only retake the lead, but rocket their advantage into the double digits at 51-39.
   
• Despite harsh pushback from the Dolphins, Yeshiva's lead would hold through the next ten minutes of play. However, once the game became tied at 68-all following a UMSV run rivaling that of YU's, there was no recovery for the Macs. The Dolphin advantage would balloon up to as many as eight points, and despite the Macs' best efforts, they could not catch the runaway train that was UMSV's high flying attack, ultimately falling by a score of 82-74.

 
MAC LEADERS

• Points: Itcovichi (27), Bardichev (16), Oselka (14), Samet (13)
• Assists: Bardichev (8), Markovich (4), Landau (3)
• Rebounds: Bardichev (16), Itcovichi (12), Freundlich (4)
• Steals: Samet (6), Bardichev (1), Itcovichi (1), Freundlich (1)
• Blocks: Freundlich (1)

 
UP NEXT
Hitting the road for their final game of the regular season, the Maccabees will travel to Maritime College on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 8:30 PM, a matchup that will decide which squad will earn the No. 2 seed in the Skyline conference playoffs.