NEW YORK – The No. 24 Yeshiva University men's basketball team's momentum continued Thursday evening, as the Maccabees earned a key Skyline victory over the Panthers of Purchase College by a score of 86-73, at the Max Stern Athletic Center. Yeshiva extends its winning streak to 16 games and have now won all nine Skyline games played, thus far, to strengthen its hold of first place in the Skyline South Division standings. Purchase drops to 12-6 for the season, and 7-2 in the conference. The Panthers are now tied with the Valiants of Manhattanville College for first place in the Skyline North Division.

"Big conference win," Yeshiva University Head Coach Elliot Steinmetz said. "Proud of our guys for the way we defended and followed scout tonight. Ryan (Turell) was just fantastic defensively and really propelled us."

Leading the way for the Maccabees was senior guard Simcha Halpert, who led all players with a season-high 33 points, shooting 7-for-14 from beyond the arc. Third-year forward Gabriel Leifer notched his 13^th double-double of the season with 14 points and 16 rebounds, while dishing out six assists and forcing three steals. Freshman guard Ofek Reef tallied 14 points, five boards, and three assists, while sophomore guard Ryan Turell had a solid game with seven points, just as many assists, and nine rebounds.

Yeshiva never trailed at any point in the contest. With the game tied, 10-10, Leifer converted a 3-point field goal, and then executed a layup, to give Yeshiva a five-point advantage with 14:27 remaining in the half. Purchase narrowed its deficit to 20-19, but junior forward Caleb Milobsky drained a timely 3-point shot to give Yeshiva more breathing room with 10:13 left to go before the break.

Later in the stanza, the Panthers once again managed to pull to within one, at 23-22. Reef countered with a jumper, and then Halpert single-handily scored seven unanswered points thanks to a 3-point field goal and two layups. On Yeshiva's next offensive possession, senior guard Tyler Hod received a feed from Turell and buried a 3-point shot from the corner, while being fouled. He drained the free throw to complete the four-point play. Senior guard Bar Alluf capped off Yeshiva's 15-0 run with a layup to give the Blue and White a commanding 38-22 hold with 5:33 remaining in the half.

With less than two minutes to go in the period, Turell threw an outlet pass to Reef, who executed a layup off the fast break to give the Maccabees their largest lead of the half, 44-27. Purchase closed out the stanza with six straight points to go into the locker room down 44-33.

Both teams kept exchanging baskets during the first seven minutes of the second half. The pattern changed, as Halpert once again found the scoring touch by converting a fast break layup and then draining a 3-point basket to equal YU's largest lead at the time, 61-44, with 11:55 remaining in regulation time.

Purchase was able to shrink YU's lead to 12, but YU countered with a 9-2 run, capped off by Halpert's successful shot from downtown, to give the Maccabees a 70-51 hold. Later in the stanza, Yeshiva scored 10 straight points, concluded by a layup from Alluf, to give the home team its largest lead of the contest at 82-55, with 4:23 remaining in regulation.

The Panthers finished the game with an 18-4 run, but it was not enough as Yeshiva went on to earn the 86-73 victory to remain undefeated in Skyline play.

For the Maccabees, Alluf had nine points, five rebounds, two assists, and a pair of steals. Senior forward Daniel Katz grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists, while sophomore forward Jasper Newman added two points and a rebound.

Four players reached double-figures in scoring for the Panthers. Junior guard Jorge Perdomo had a team-high 18 points, while senior guard Elijah Lott had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, while dishing out five assists.

Yeshiva will resume Skyline play at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Saturday evening, against Manhattanville, beginning at 8:30 p.m.