FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The nationally ranked No. 15 Yeshiva University men's basketball team trailed by 14 late in the first half, but rallied to earn an important Skyline victory over SUNY Old Westbury by a score of 75-69, at Nold Hall Athletic Complex, on Wednesday evening. The Macs' defense came up big when needed as they held the Panthers (9-11, 5-8 Skyline) scoreless for the final 1:57 of the contest.

The Maccabees (19-2, 12-1 Skyline) remain in sole possession of first place in the overall Skyline standings, leading the Rams of Farmingdale State College by one game with three conference contests left in the regular season.

Yeshiva fell behind to Old Westbury by 13, at 42-29, after 20 minutes of play. However, senior Ryan Turell came flying out of the gate in the second half by draining a triple, and then executing a traditional three-point play, to shrink Old Westbury's lead to 42-35 less than three minutes into the stanza. A few minutes later, with the Panthers up, 48-41, Turell once again buried a basket while being fouled. He added the shot from the charity stripe to shrink YU's deficit to 48-44 with 14:28 remaining in regulation time.

After Yeshiva forced a stop on the defensive end, senior Eitan Halpert caught a pass from Turell and was able to drain a 3-point field goal and draw a foul at the same time. He connected on the free throw to not only complete the four-point play, but more importantly, tie the contest at 48 points apiece. However, a 6-2 run by SUNY Old Westbury once again put Yeshiva in a hole at 54-50 with 12:38 to go. Turell, proving why he is a two-time D3hoops.com First Team All-American, scored the game's next nine points, including another and-one three-point play, to propel the Maccabees to a 59-54 advantage with 9:08 remaining.

Old Westbury was not done yet as the home team chipped away. A pair of free throws from senior Nigel Carter shrunk YU's lead to 61-59. On the next possession, Carter connected on a 3-point shot to put the Panthers in front, 62-61, with 6:58 left in regulation. The Maccabees would answer as Turell found graduate student Gabriel Leifer who drilled a key shot from beyond the arc to help the Blue and White retake the lead, 64-62, with 5:44 to go. After Old Westbury tied the game, the Maccabees scored five unanswered points, capped off by another 3-point field goal from Leifer, to go up 69-64 with 3:02 left to play. However, the Panthers answered with a 5-0 run of their own, concluding with junior Zachary Cummings' shot from downtown to once again even up the game with 1:57 left.

On Yeshiva's next offensive possession, Halpert converted a layup to give YU the lead again, 71-69, with 1:38 remaining. Yeshiva forced a stop on the next possession and Turell had control of the ball. He tripped on his way to the basket, but he recovered and was still able to execute a successful layup attempt to extend Yeshiva's lead to 73-69 with 43 ticks left on the clock. Old Westbury could not get the game closer as junior Ofek Reef iced the game by hitting pair of free throws with 26 seconds left to help give Yeshiva a big come-from-behind Skyline road victory.

For the evening, Turell led all players with 26 points, while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out three assists for the Maccabees. Leifer just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, while dishing out six assists and forcing two steals. The Lawrence native now has 603 assists during his illustrious career. He notched his 600^th career assist on Turell's 3-point shot, 28 seconds into the second half. Halpert had 16 points and five rebounds. Reef tallied 12 points and five boards. Junior Matan Zucker had six rebounds and three assists to go along with a pair of free throws.

Three players scored at least 20 points for the Panthers, including 21 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals from Cummings. Senior Charles Wingate also had 21 points, while Carter scored 20 points.

Yeshiva will return to the friendly confines of Max Stern Athletic Center on Saturday evening, for an important Skyline Conference clash against St. Joseph's College Long Island. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.