MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Silloway Gymnasium was the site of an epic back-and-forth dual on Wednesday night, with the Wesleyan men's basketball team staging a comeback win to dispatch the visiting Yeshiva Maccabees, 87-84. The Cardinals, winners of nine straight, move to 11-5, while Yeshiva falls to 8-8.
 
Yeshiva held an 11-point lead in the late stages of this one, but Wesleyan rallied and then closed the game out with an 8-3 run to snatch the victory. Gabe Ravetz '23 converted a driving layup for the Cardinals with 42 seconds remaining that broke an 81-81 tie and gave Wesleyan the lead for good.
 
Ravetz's heroics backed a career game from Preston Maccoux '23 who netted a career-high 35 points in the victory. The senior wing went 10-of-17 from the floor, 4-for-9 from three, and a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe to reach the 30-point mark for the first time in his career. Ravetz had an important 13 points himself, including that go-ahead basket in the final minute, while Shane Regan '25 came off the bench and scored all 10 of his points in the second half.
 
The first half was even throughout, featuring five ties and eight lead changes, as neither side leading by more than five points. Yeshiva took their biggest lead at 38-33 with 2:05 remaining but Wesleyan responded with a 9-5 run that featured six consecutive points from Ravetz, the first off a three-point play, and capped by Fritz Hauser '26 hitting from long range. Yeshiva netted the final bucket of the half to go up 45-42 at the break.
 
Yeshiva got off to a strong start in the second half as Roy Itcovichi hit a long two-point jumper to inflate the Macs' advantage up t 57-49 with 13:01 remaining. Just over two minutes later, Yeshiva converted all three free throws on a shooting foul committed behind the arc to take their first double-digit lead of the game.
 
However, it was a quick one-minute burst from the Cardinals that saw points come on three straight possessions to make it 62-59. Ravetz hit a three to start the 7-0 run followed by a pair of Maccoux buckets in transition.
 
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 left. The key basket was a midrange jumper from Zevi Samet that halted the Cardinals' momentum and started the Macs' blitz.
 
Once again, it was Wesleyan's turn to make a run, scoring 16 of the game's next 21 points to tie the score at 77 with 2:23 remaining. Regan was given an extended run in the second half and he made the most of it with six unanswered points in the 16-5 Cardinal run.
 
After Wesleyan tied the score, Samet swished two free throws before Ravetz grabbed an offensive rebound on the next Cardinals possession, providing the putback to even the game up at 81 points apiece. After the Cardinals forced a turnover, Ravetz scored the layup that put the home team in the lead, 83-81, with 42 ticks left on the clock.
 
Samet saw his pull up jumper miss on the next Yeshiva possession and thanks to a pair of free throws from Maccoux, the Cardinals made it 85-81 with 20 seconds to go. Samet hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds to pull Yeshiva back to within one, but an intentional foul was followed by two more Maccoux free throws as Wesleyan led 87-84 with 2.8 seconds left.
 
Yeshiva had one more chance to tie the game but pressure on the inbounds pass helped force a turnover near midcourt and the clock expired.
 
Wesleyan's comeback upped the Cardinals' win streak to nine games as this now marks the fifth time in the past seven seasons that Wesleyan has rattled off a win streak of at least nine straight.
 
Nicky Johnson '25 contributed nine points, seven assists, and five rebounds for the Cardinals while Shackylle Dezonie '23 totaled eight points and 10 rebounds.
 
Samet led the Macs with 25 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Max Zakheim started the game 9-of-10 from the floor as he went on the finish with 23 points and nine rebounds.
 
A big away test looms for the Cardinals as a trip to Trinity is on-deck. Saturday's tip-off is set for 3 PM.