MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Yeshiva University men's basketball team suffered a gut-wrenching defeat at the hands of the defending New England Small College Athletic Conference Champion Wesleyan University, 87-84, at Silloway Gymnasium on Wednesday evening. The Maccabees fall to 8-8, while the Cardinals earn their ninth straight victory and advance to 11-5.

Yeshiva had an 11-point lead in the late stages of the contest, but Wesleyan rallied and then closed the game out with an 8-3 run to snatch the victory. Senior guard Gabe Ravtez converted a driving layup for the Cardinals, with 42 seconds remaining, that broke an 81-81 tie and gave Wesleyan the lead for good.

Leading the way for the Maccabees was rookie guard Zevi Samet who netted 25 points, shot 45.5% from 3-point range, brought down six boards, and distributed four assists. Sophomore guard Max Zakheim produced 23 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and delivered three assists. The Bergenfield native shot 66.7 % from both the floor overall (10-for-15) and from beyond the arc (2-for-3). Senior forward Matan Zucker produced eight points, just as many rebounds, and four assists.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair featuring five ties and eight lead changes. With the game knotted at 18, and Wesleyan with the ball, Zucker deflected a Cardinals' pass attempt, and the ball went to newcomer Effy Freundlich who dribbled down the court and converted a driving layup for his first bucket as a Maccabee, and putting the Blue and White back up by two. 

Later in the first half, with the scored tied at 33, junior guard Oren Betesh took a feed from Zucker and drained a triple to put Yeshiva in the lead once again. After YU forced a stop on the defensive end, Samet delivered the ball to Zakheim who successfully converted a layup to equal Yeshiva's largest lead of the opening half, 38-33, with 2:05 remaining.

The Cardinals countered with a 9-5 run to narrow YU's vantage to 43-42 with 37 ticks left on the clock. However, Yeshiva was able to finish the half strong as Zakheim drove to the basket in the closing seconds and executed a good layup to extend the Macs' benefit to 45-42 with seven seconds left in the stanza. That would be the score after 20 minutes of play.

Yeshiva got off to a strong start in the second half as a long 2-point field goal courtesy of rookie forward Roy Itcovichi inflated YU's advantage to 57-49 with 13:01 remaining in regulation time. Just over two minutes later, with Yeshiva up by a score of 59-52, Betesh drew a shooting foul from beyond the arc and was awarded three free throw attempts. He drained three consecutive shots from the charity stripe to give YU a commanding 62-52 hold with 11:00 left to play.

However, the Cardinals surged by tallying seven unanswered points to shrink the Maccabees' benefit to 62-59 with 9:35 remaining in the second half.

The Macs quickly grabbed momentum right back, as a 10-2 run gave Yeshiva its largest lead of the evening, 72-61, with 7:10 remaining. The key basket was a midrange jumper from Samet that halted the Cardinals' momentum and started the Macs' blitz. He also buried a triple during Yeshiva's run. Then, Itcovichi capped off the 10-2 rally with a key shot from downtown that put YU up by 11.

Once again, it was Wesleyan's turn to make a run, scoring 16 of the game's next 21 points to tie the game at 77 points with 2:23 remaining. After Yeshiva missed a shot, Zucker grabbed an offensive rebound and provided a key putback basket to allow YU to regain the lead, 79-77, with 2:02 left to play.

After Wesleyan tied the contest, Samet got bumped and was awarded two shots from the free throw line in a tie-game situation with 1:35 to go. The Monsey native swished both of his free throw opportunities to give the Maccabees the advantage once again, 81-79, with just over a minute and a half to go in the game.

On Wesleyan's next possession, Ravetz grabbed an offensive rebound and then provided the putback to even the game up at 81 points apiece. After the Cardinals forced a turnover, Ravetz provided the layup that put the home team in the lead, 83-81, with 42 ticks left on the clock.

Yeshiva could not convert on its next possession. Thanks to a pair of free throws from senior guard Preston Maccoux, the Cardinals extended their benefit to four, at 85-81, with 20 seconds to go. The Maccabees would not go down without a fight, as Samet launched a triple from the corner to pull Yeshiva to within one, at 85-84, with just three seconds left. The Macs had to intentionally foul Maccoux, who drained two more key free throws to put Wesleyan up by three.

YU had one more chance to tie the game but could not get off a shot off, and Wesleyan completed the comeback victory.

For the Maccabees, Itcovichi had a solid game with 10 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Betesh scored 11 points, delivered two assists, and forced just as many steals. First-year forward Dothan Bardichev drained a 3-point field goal and grabbed eight rebounds.

For the Cardinals, Maccoux finished the evening with a game-high 35 points, went 11-for-11 from the free throw line, and shot 58.8% from the field. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists.

Yeshiva will conclude the non-conference portion of its regular season schedule on Sunday, with a matinee against University of Mary Washington. Tipoff at Max Stern Athletic Center is set for 3:00 p.m.