Gameday Preview: Farmingdale State @Yeshiva

You can check that day off your calendar because it’s here. Snowy Saturday night. Max Stern Athletic Center. Lights on. Doors open. Same two programs. Same tension.

It’s been 328 days since these two last met with everything on the line. March 2, 2025. In Farmingdale. Skyline Championship Sunday. You already know how that ended with Zevi Samet’s game-winning three and the Macs 81-78 victory which was heard all around the Jewish basketball world. Here we are again, and both teams are perfect in Skyline play. The Macs are 8–0. The Rams are 7–0. Each is leading their respective Skyline divisions. Each is very aware of what this game could mean down the road.

This tilt is about positioning. This is about who gets to host later on if (and when) these two inevitably cross paths again, with an NCAA bid hanging in the balance. And don’t think Farmingdale forgot. They’ve been sitting with the shot, sitting with the comeback, sitting in silence after the net snapped and the gym turned upside down. Revenge has a long memory, and the Rams have been waiting patiently. As for Yeshiva? They know exactly who they’re dealing with. They remember the 16-point hole. They remember  the Monsey Mamba dragging them back from the edge. They remember what it takes to beat Farmingdale — and how little margin there is.

This isn’t about last year’s banner. That’s already hanging and will happily greet the Rams at the MSAC. It’s about what’s next in a rivalry between two programs on a collision course that won’t end following this Snowball Duel, but could be shaped by it. We’re good. They’re good. Let’s do it again.

Zevi Samet and Max Zakheim broke the Rams hearts 328 days ago in the Skyline Championship game and will look to double down in the rivals first meeting since that encounter. (Yeshiva Athletics)

Win in the middle of the game:

Farmingdale thrives when games get chaotic — long rebounds, quick spurts, emotional swings. Yeshiva has to own the in-between moments: the four-minute stretches after a run, the possessions after a whistle, the first two minutes of each half. Last year’s title was won by surviving the storm, not avoiding it. Do that again.

Let Zevi be Zevi — but don’t make him Superman:

Yes, Yeshiva trusts the program’s all-time leading scorer Zevi Samet in big moments — they should. Yet the real separator is when the ball doesn’t stick. When Max Zakheim hits timely shots, when Yoav Oselka and Dothan Bardichev clean the glass, when others punish overhelp, Farmingdale’s defense cracks. Balance makes the late-game inevitable.

Defend with patience, not emotion:

The Rams have been waiting 328 days for this. They’ll try to speed things up—bait fouls. Create noise. Yeshiva can’t bite. Guard the ball. Finish possessions. Make them score over length and discipline—not freebies. The calmer team in the final eight minutes wins.

How to Watch:

Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30pm at the MSAC. Fans are encouraged to come down and pack the gym for this rivalry game. The game will also be broadcast on MacsLive at MacsLive.com/watch-live