NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University men's basketball team suffered a hard-fought loss to nationally-ranked No. 6 Ramapo College, 90-71, at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Thursday evening. The Maccabees drop to 5-8, while the defending New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament champions advance to 9-1.

The Maccabees were able to keep up with the Roadrunners for the majority of the game, as a pair of free throws by sophomore forward Bar Alluf tied the game, 62-62, with 10:47 remaining in regulation time. However, Ramapo took over the game at that point, by scoring 11 unanswered points to take a 73-62 advantage, with 7:03 left to play. Yeshiva could not counter with a run of its own, as the visiting team went on to earn the non-conference win.

"Proud of how we competed for 35 minutes against the No. 6 team in the country," Yeshiva University head coach Elliot Steinmetz said. "Their depth tonight wore us down and that's why they are as good as they are. I'm proud of our guys for their toughness tonight with only nine players dressing to play."

The Maccabees had balanced scoring as four players scored in double-figures. Alluf scored a team-high 19 points, dished out a game-high seven assists, grabbed four rebounds, and blocked a pair of shots. Sophomore guard Simcha Halpert and classmate Daniel Katz each scored 14 points, with the former bringing down seven caroms and earning three steals, while the latter brought down two boards and distributed a pair of assists. Junior forward Tal Gweta produced 13 points, facilitated three assists, had two blocks, and brought down a rebound.

In the early stages of the game, Alluf drilled a 3-point field goal to give the Maccabees the lead, 7-5. After Ramapo regained the advantage, Gweta launched a shot from beyond the arc to even the game up, 12-12, less than four minutes into contest. After Katz's layup tied the game, 19-19, the Roadrunners changed the tide by scoring nine unanswered points, in a span of 3:29, to take a commanding 28-19 lead.

At that point, it was the Maccabees' turn to rally as the home team went on 12-2 run, capped off by a 3-point field goal by Katz, to jump out to a 31-30 lead, with 6:23 left in the half. Trailing by one, with 5:17 remaining, Halpert successfully converted two shots from the charity stripe to put the Macs back up, 35-34. With just under four minutes remaining until intermission, sophomore guard Tyler Hod forced a steal and fed the ball to Halpert, who nailed a jump shot to extend Yeshiva's lead to 37-34. Ramapo answered with eight unanswered points to put YU in another hole, with 36 seconds to go.

Sophomore forward Kevin Bokor stopped the Roadrunners' rally by grabbing an offensive rebound and converting a quick put-back, with eight ticks left on the clock, to narrow the visiting team's lead to 42-39. That would be the score at the break.

Less than two minutes into the second stanza, Halpert drained a 3-pointer to even the game, 47-47. After the Roadrunners jumped back out in front, Bokor pulled down an offensive rebound and converted another put-back to tie the game, 49-49, with 15:46 remaining in regulation time. Nick Stanek drilled a 3-pointer to put Ramapo up once again, 52-49. On the next possession, Alluf found Halpert who countered with a 3-point field goal of his own to even the game.

Later in the period, Ramapo regained the lead, 60-57, with 11:32 to go. Gweta passed the ball to freshman guard Yoav Deutsch, who successfully converted a shot from beyond the arc to tie the contest, 60-60. Down by two yet again, Alluf hit two timely free throws to even the game, 62-62, with 10:47 left in the second half.

From that point on, the sixth ranked team in the nation completely shifted the game into its favor by scoring eleven unanswered points, in a span of 3:19, to take a commanding 73-62 advantage. This time, Yeshiva was not able to counter with a rally, as the Roadrunners slowly built their lead for the remainder of the game and went on to win by the score of 90-71.

For the evening, Bokor produced eight points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists, and forced a steal. Deutsch brought down three boards and distributed a pair of assists, to go along with his 3-point field goal. Tyler Hodfacilitated three assists and forced a steal, while junior guard Justin Hod converted a steal of his own.

For Ramapo, Stanek led all players with 23 points, while grabbing six rebounds, and blocking two shots. Patrick Peterson added 22 points with five boards, while Christopher Moseley scored 16 points, brought down seven caroms, and dished out four assists.

Yeshiva will be back in action on Wednesday, for the final non-conference matchup of the regular season, against Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham at the Max Stern Athletic Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.