GAME RECAP: Men's Basketball vs. Sarah Lawrence College: 11/20/18

By Roey Herzefeld

(WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY) The Yeshiva University men’s basketball team suffered another heartbreaking loss this Tuesday falling to the Sarah Lawrence College Gryphons 91-88.

Yeshiva started off sluggish, missing their first few shots of the game until a Gabe Leifer block set up a Simcha Halpert three to get the Macs on the board. Halpert proved himself to be healthy in the first few minutes hitting another three a few minutes later.

In the first half, Gabe Leifer provided the majority of the offense hitting three three- pointers and a couple of layups, totaling to 13 points at the break. Leifer was a force down low grabbing 8 rebounds by the end of the half.

A couple of three pointers by Gryphons guard Andrew Varoli and a number of free throws kept the Gryphons in the game in the first ten minutes as Yeshiva struggled to break free. The Macs looked to be pushing away when Senior Tal Gweta converted an and-1 and then a three pointer to give the Macs a 29-21 lead with under nine minutes to go. However the Gryphons fought their way back and cut the lead to 46-41 at the end of the first half.

The Macs once again had difficulty starting the half and back to back buckets by Enike Anyia brought the Gryphons within one point. The Gryphons were soon able to grab a lead on a three-pointer by Omar Jamaleddine, but Simcha Halpert answered with his own three-pointer putting the Macs back up by two.

The Macs seemed to finally break away when Leifer assisted Freshman Ryan Turell on back to back scores and then Turell hit a three of own scoring seven straight points for the Macs. Turell then found an open Simcha Halpert for a three and the Macs took a 71-62 lead with ten minutes to go in the game.

Yet Sarah Lawrence refused to go away. BJ Sanders came up big for the Gryphons and hit a few shots in a row bringing the Gryphons to within a point of the Macs at 73-72. An Omar Jamaleddine layup gave the Gryphons another lead before Daniel Tzion’s two free throws and a Simcha Halpert layup put the Macs back up three.

Enike Anyia challenged the Macs defense down low and scored on a few possessions before Ryan Turell hit back to back three pointers giving the Macs an 83-80 lead as the clock hit under five minutes.

Austin Jones scored seven straight points for the Gryphons giving them an 87-85 lead before Simcha Halpert knocked down another clutch three pointer with just over a minute to go. Jones went back to the line on a questionable blocking foul called against Michael Hayon and converted one to tie the game at 88 with 57 seconds remaining. Junior Forward Daniel Katz then turned the ball over with just over 30 seconds remaining, giving the Gryphons the ball back.

The Gryphons wound down the clock until just over 10 seconds remaining, as they looked to win on a last second shot. The Macs defense was all over Freshman Guard Andrew Varoli as he heaved up a deep three pointer with a few seconds to go. Unfortunately for the Macs, the ball banked off the backboard and in, giving the Gryphons a 91-88 lead with only 2.7 seconds remaining. Ryan Turell caught Daniel Katz’s inbound pass at halfcourt and spun around to take a deep three pointer looking to tie the game at the buzzer. The shot fell off to the right and the game ended 91-88 in favor of Sarah Lawrence.

For the Macs, Simcha Halpert and Ryan Turell both finished with 21 points

and 4 assists and Gabe Leifer added 18 points and 13 rebounds. Daniel Tzion also came up huge off the bench providing 15 points and 5 boards.

It was another devastating loss for the Macs who, for the third time this year, have lost by a single possession. Yeshiva hosts Williams College on Sunday hoping to rebound with their first win of the season.