NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University men's basketball earned yet another Skyline Conference victory by defeating Mount Saint Mary College, 88-72, at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Thursday evening. Yeshiva has now won four games in a row, all in conference play. The Maccabees now move into a tie with Old Westbury for second place in the South Division, at 8-2 in Skyline contests.

Leading the way for Yeshiva (12-6, 8-2 Skyline) was sophomore guard Judah Cohen, who scored a team-high 22 points, on six three-point field goals, and forced three steals. Freshman guard Simcha Halpert produced 21 points, shooting 8-13 from the field, while grabbing six rebounds and forcing three steals. As a team, Yeshiva went 14-27 from beyond the arc.  

The Maccabees got off to a sluggish start, as the Knights (11-8, 6-5 Skyline) jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. Yeshiva would strike back as a three-point field goal by senior guard Jordan Hod pulled the home team to within 6-5. Less than two minutes later, Halpert drained a shot from beyond the arc to give the Maccabees a 10-9 advantage. Yeshiva never trailed again for the remainder of the contest.

YU steadily increased its lead throughout the opening half.  A layup by sophomore forward Michael Hayon put the Macs up by double-digits, at 27-17, with 7:05 remaining. After Yeshiva went up by 12, the Knights rallied to pull within five with 1:21 to go. Cohen answered by converting a layup to extend Yeshiva's lead to 37-30, and that would be the score at the half.

The Blue and White flew out of the gate in the second stanza, as a three-point field goal by freshman forward Daniel Katz made it 52-36 in favor of the home team. Hod's three-pointer capped off Yeshiva's 11-0 run and put the game out of reach for Mount Saint Mary. With 3:44 remaining in regulation time, sophomore forward Tal Gweta drilled a shot from beyond the arc to give Yeshiva its biggest lead of the game, 83-61. YU went on to earn the key Skyline win, 88-72.

For the evening, Gweta scored 12 points, with five rebounds, and four assists. Hod added 10 points with seven boards, while Katz produced seven points with three assists, two rebounds, and one steal. Senior forward Dean Pienica scored six points and blocked two shots, while senior forward Michael Berg dished out a game-high seven assists to go along with five points. Hayon scored three points with two rebounds, while freshman forward Bar Alluf added two points of his own.

The Maccabees will look to make it five in a row on Sunday, when they travel to take on St. Joseph's College Long Island, beginning at 1:00 p.m.