Heartbreak in Medford: Macs Stun #4 Tufts for 30 Minutes — Then Collapse Late
- Marvin Azrak
- 48 minutes ago
- 4 min read
If you're still processing what happened inside Cousens Gymnasium on Sunday you aren't alone. Up 70–49. Ten minutes to go. The #4 squad in the country on the ropes, with their fans silent, their All-Americans shaking their heads. And then, it was gone.
The same Yeshiva Maccabees who looked flawless for 30 minutes — crisp passes, motion offense humming, energy electric — suddenly couldn't break a press, couldn't secure a rebound, couldn't catch a breath. Tufts hit a three, then another, then another. The crowd woke up, and the game turned into a Jumbo party. When it mercifully ended, we saw Tufts 100, Yeshiva 94 (OT).
What happened? Simple. The defense vanished. The composure cracked. This team has to close. You don't get moral victories when you have that lead. You have to finish.
If you watched the first 30 minutes, you saw what this group can be. The growth is undeniable. Last year in this same gym, Tufts bullied YU off the floor — out-rebounding them 64–33 and winning 83–66, sending them home for the summer in the NCAA Tournament. This time, the Macs won the glass, shot 53%, led for 37 minutes, and put a top-five powerhouse in legitimate danger.
Yoav Oselka was sensational: 28 points, 10 boards, 7 assists, 12-of-16 shooting. A completely different player than a year ago — confident, powerful, patient. Zevi Samet dropped 22, and for three-quarters of the game, was a problem for every defender thrown at him. Dovrat and Bardichev looked polished, poised, and physical — their footwork and presence down low were a thing of beauty. This was not the same YU team that limped through early blowouts, but one that showed they'd truly learned from those lessons.
That's why it stings so much. Still, maybe this is part of the process. The lesson you don't want but the one you need. Learn how to break the press. Handle athletic lineups. Keep composure when the crowd roars and the rims shrink.
The Macs are 0–5, for their worst start in 14 years, and yeah, that hurts to type. Yet those five losses came to #1 Trinity, #2 Randolph-Macon, #4 Tufts (in overtime), a one point double-overtime heartbreaker at #15 University of Mary Washington a week prior and a season-opening defeat to a solid Chapman bunch.
Macs Nation is rightfully disappointed, but fans should also be encouraged. For 30 minutes, we saw a team that could beat almost anyone in the country.
Now it's about turning thirty great minutes into forty. Turn heartbreak into hunger. When this group finally puts it all together — and they will — somebody's going to pay for Sunday down the road as we hit February and March.
How It Happened:
Yeshiva came out firing. Zevi Samet and Max Zakheim set the tone early, combining for buckets in rhythm to open a 13–7 lead. Tufts tried to push the tempo, but the Macs stayed poised.
Midway through the first half, Yoav Oselka took over. He bullied defenders inside, stretched the floor, and found teammates with precision. Back-to-back triples from Yair Dovrat sent the Macs' bench into a frenzy, stretching the lead to 46–32. When the halftime buzzer sounded, Yeshiva had built a 48–37 advantage.
The second half opened with more of the same. Samet drilled a jumper, Oselka added two quick buckets, and suddenly it was 64–43. Then 70–49 with 10:21 left. The Maccabees were up twenty-one on the #4 team in the nation.
Tufts switched into a full-court press, and Yeshiva couldn't escape it. Turnovers piled up. The Jumbos went on a 10–2 run, then another. A 21-point lead shrunk to 13, then single digits, then two. Dylan Reilly and Sidney Wooten hit backbreaking threes, and it was inevitable Tufts would tie it.
With 22 seconds left, Jon Medley knifed to the rim, absorbed contact, and tied the game at 85–85. The free throw missed, Zakheim went to the line on the next possession — and heartbreak followed as his attempt rimmed out. Overtime.
The extra session was all Tufts. The Jumbos opened with a 12–2 run, hitting four of their five shots in the period. The Macs tried to hang in behind Oselka and Samet, but the gas tank was empty.
The First 30 Minutes Were Championship-Level Basketball:
YU's motion offense was poetry in motion — ball movement, spacing, patience, unselfishness. They shot 63% in the first half, controlled tempo, and out-rebounded one of the most physical frontcourts in the country. If the Macs can bottle that energy, they can beat anyone in the Skyline and hang with the elite nationally.
The Press Break Needs Urgent Fixing:
Once Tufts went athletic and turned up the pressure, Yeshiva unraveled. Inbounding struggles, rushed passes, and turnovers flipped the entire game. Every team watching that film is circling the same weakness. This week has to be about composure, movement, and smarter spacing under pressure.
The Ceiling Is Higher Than the Record Shows:
They're 0–5, sure, but YU has played three of the top four teams in the nation — and nearly beat one on the road. Oselka has blossomed into a star. Dovrat looks confident again. The defense has moments of real grit. If they channel Sunday's heartbreak into discipline and urgency, the payoff will come fast when Skyline play begins.
As Coach Elliot Steinmetz quipped on X, "Perspective on record depends on what your goals are. If your goal is just to have a good record, schedule easy games and win 20 every year. Where we sit, we could do that and feel good about ourselves at the end of each regular season. It wouldn't help us past that. Alternatively, we can challenge ourselves and believe that, by February and March, those challenging experiences will yield benefits."
He added, "If your goal is getting better every day, schedule the hardest games you can and try to teach your team to compete. Eventually, it will pay off. Coaches get judged on their record - not players. So it's just ego and job security that drive the need to maintain a good record. I don't care about either of those things. Student-athletes value success by their end-of-year results and improvement from beginning to end. Those things aren't exactly compatible with a coach who just wants W's next to his name."
UP NEXT:
The Macs host NYU next Wednesday December 3rd, at the MSAC. Tip-off is at 8PM.