The Tier II qualifying game between the #13 ranked MTA Lions and the #20 Hillel of Pittsburgh Heat at the Max Stern Athletic center should be an exciting one.
The MTA Lions come into Sarachek with a record of 8-10 (6-8 in the Yeshiva League), and are led by an all-senior starting five, including leading scorer Eitan Warburg, defensive leader Eitan Pfeiffer, and facilitator Hudy Weiss.
Both teams come in with significant experience at previous tournaments. Last month, Hillel of Pittsburgh placed third overall in the David Tanzman Memorial due to their stout shooting and willingness to drive to the basket.
MTA won last year’s Tier III semi-final against Ida Crown in a quadruple-overtime thriller led by key free throw shooting by Weiss and Pfeiffer, and went on to win the Tier III Championship.
Expect this game to be a slow-paced one with stout defense. Both teams run a half-court offense, but with the shot-clock, expect both teams to try to eliminate inside shots and to force lower-quality shots later in the shot clock.
Tip-off will be at approximately 5:30 PM from the Max Stern Athletic Center, and of course, you can watch the game right here on MacsLive.com.