NEW YORK - The nationally ranked No. 22 Yeshiva University men's basketball team earned its 20^th consecutive victory on Saturday evening, defeating Skyline rival the College of Mount Saint Vincent by a score of 95-80, inside the Max Stern Athletic Center. Yeshiva advances its record to 20-1 for the season and moves up to 12-0 in Skyline play. The Dolphins drop to 7-14 overall and 4-8 in conference contests.

The Maccabees converted 55.6% of their field goal opportunities, while shooting 44.8% from beyond the arc.

"I thought it was a good effort considering the amount of games we have played in a short amount of time, lately," Yeshiva University Head Coach Elliot Steinmetz said. "We do need to pick it up defensively."

Leading the way for the Maccabees was third year forward Gabriel Leifer, who scored 15 points, grabbed a game-best 17 rebounds, dished out nine assists, and blocked three shots. Senior guard Simcha Halpert tallied a team-high 27 points, shooting 9-for-13 from the field including 7-for-10 from 3-point range, while distributing five assists. Sophomore guard Ryan Turell netted 26 points, grabbed four rebounds, had just as many assists, and forced three steals. The Los Angeles native is just 25 points away from 1,000 in his young career.

After senior guard Raiquis Harris knocked down a jumper at the 15:19 mark to knot the game at 11, senior guard Bar Alluf drained a 3-point field goal as part of Yeshiva's seven-unanswered points to take the 18-11 lead with 12:49 remaining in the opening half. The Dolphins countered with five straight points to pull to within two.

Later in the half, with Yeshiva up by a score of 23-21, Turell nailed a shot from beyond the arc. A couple of possessions later, Leifer intercepted the ball and found Turell, who converted a layup, while being fouled. He added the shot from the charity stripe to complete the traditional three-point play and give the Blue and White a 29-21 hold with 8:00 to play in the half.

Yeshiva finished the period strong, as Leifer fed the ball to Simcha Halpert, who converted a layup to give YU its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes, 46-33, with 22 ticks left on the clock. That would be the score at the intermission.

CMSV rallied in the early stages of the second half,as a jumper by Harris pulled the visiting team to within single digits, at 53-44, with 14:48 left to play in regulation time. Simcha Halpert countered with a 3-point field goal that sparked a 13-2 run to inflate Yeshiva's lead to 20, at 66-46, with 11:20 left to play. That put the game out of reach for the Dolphins, as they could not generate a consistent run early enough to get back into the game.

With 5:29 to go, senior guard Tyler Hod delivered the ball to senior forward Daniel Katz, who successfully executed the layup to give Yeshiva its largest lead of the evening, at 82-59. The Dolphins managed to pull to within 12, with 1:32 to go, but it would not be enough as Simcha Halpert and junior guard Eitan Halpert drained 3-pointers in the final minute to help secure a 95-80 Skyline victory for the Maccabees.

For Yeshiva, Eitan Halpert scored 11 points, just one shy of his career-high, while Katz grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists, and forced a pair of steals. Junior forward Caleb Milobsky had a solid game with seven points and five rebounds, while Alluf netted five points.

For Mount Saint Vincent, Harris scored a game-high 28 points, while bringing down nine boards.

Yeshiva will return to the Max Stern Athletic Center on Tuesday evening, for a Skyline matchup against St. Joseph's College Brooklyn, beginning at 8:00 p.m.