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Bar Alluf is not dressed for Friday afternoon's first-round NCAA Tournament game at York (Pa.) after allegations have been raised about his eligibilty.
Alluf averaged 17.9 points this season and 5.2 rebounds, shooting 41.5 percent from 3-point range in helping lead the Maccabees to the Skyline Conference automatic bid and a berth in the NCAA Division III field of 64. His information matches the profile of a player who participated in Israel's professional league.
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Yeshiva issued the following statement regarding Alluf's eligibility:
"This week allegations were raised regarding the eligibility of one of our players, Bar Alluf. We immediately reviewed this information with the conference office and experts on NCAA eligibility rules. While this review confirmed our belief that Mr. Alluf's eligibility was properly certified based on the information that had been provided to Yeshiva, we – Yeshiva University and its community of students, faculty and alumni – take pride in holding ourselves to the highest possible standards on and off of the court. As such, we have decided that Mr. Alluf will not play in the tournament in order to avoid any possible impact these new allegations may have on our team's participation."
The Maccabees lost to York (Pa.) 81-67 in the first round and were eliminated from the tournament.
"From what I understand the statement is what it is, it was precautionary; I haven't heard anything new," Eliot Steinmetz told D3sports.com after the game. "We will go with whatever statement the school's put out."
"The news came pretty late that he wasn't going to play tonight, but we knew if we stayed true to our game plan we still could've pulled it off," said Yeshiva guard Simcha Halpert. "If he was playing, we absolutely would've come out with the win." Simcha, the team's leading scorer during the regular season, was held to 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting, 2-for-10 from 3-point range, in the loss.
Contributing: Ryan Scott