BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University men's basketball team earned its fifth straight Skyline win by defeating Sarah Lawrence College, 69-53, at the Campbell Sports Center on Saturday evening. The Maccabees advance to 9-6 in Skyline play (11-9 overall) and move into a tie with Purchase College for third place in the conference standings. The Gryphons fall to 3-14 in the conference (4-18 overall).

Yeshiva trailed by as many nine in the first half, but outscored Sarah Lawrence, 43-26, in the second to earn the come-from-behind win.

Leading the way for the Macs was sophomore forward Bar Alluf, who scored a game-high 20 points, while grabbing four rebounds. Classmate Simcha Halpert produced 13 points, with four rebounds, three steals, two assists, and one block. Sophomore forward Gabriel Leifer had eight points, a game-high 11 rebounds, and five dimes, while classmate Daniel Katz produced nine points, six rebounds, and five assists. Junior forward Tal Gweta also scored nine points, while bringing down seven caroms, and dishing out two helpers.

The Gryphons had control of the game for the majority of the opening half, jumping out to a 22-13 advantage with 4:50 to go before halftime. The Maccabees responded by scoring eight unanswered points, highlighted by back-to-back 3-point field goals by junior guard Justin Hod and Gweta, to pull the visiting team to within one, with 2:38 remaining in the period. A 3-pointer by Kaleb Robinson extended the Gryphons' lead to 25-21. The Maccabees scored the next five points, thanks to a successful shot from beyond the arc by Alluf and a layup by Gweta, to give YU a 26-25 lead. Isaiah Pean nailed a jumper with less than a minute to go to put Sarah Lawrence up, 27-26, and that would be the score at the end of the half.

Alluf opened the second half by converting a layup and drilling a 3-pointer to give Yeshiva the lead, 31-27, less than two minutes in. The Gryphons answered with four straight points to tie the contest. From that point on, Yeshiva would take control of the game by going on a 15-5 run, capped off by Alluf's successful shot from beyond the arc, to give the Maccabees a commanding 46-36 lead, with 11:38 remaining in regulation time.

Later in the half, Katz fed the ball to Halpert, who nailed a 3-point shot to increase YU's lead to 62-50, with 4:08 left to play. After Sarah Lawrence pulled to within 10, sophomore guard Tyler Hod put the game out of reach by hitting a 3-point field goal, to make it 65-52 in favor of Yeshiva, with 2:19 remaining in regulation. Yeshiva went on to win the game, 69-53.

For the evening, Sophomore forward Kevin Bokor and senior forward Ethan Gipsman each scored two points, while senior forward Eli Mamann grabbed a rebound. Freshman guard Sammy Mandel distributed an assist.

For Sarah Lawrence, Enike Anyia produced a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Austin Jones added 11 points with four assists.

Yeshiva will be back in action on Tuesday, for a Skyline Conference contest at Old Westbury. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.