The Macs came out firing tonight, putting up 104 points in a blowout win against a poor shooting Medgar Evers squad. Ryan Turell led the way, scoring 38 points on an efficient 14-21 from the field, which was supported by a classic Gabe Leifer performance of 11 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks.
How it happened:
After some back and forth action to start the game, Eitan Halpert hit his first three of the night, giving the Macs a 10-6 lead.
Star Medgar Evers guard Andre Evans Jr. hit a jumper and assisted on a layup on back to back plays to force a timeout by Yeshiva.
With ten minutes left in the first half, Medgar Evers took a 20-14 lead off of an and-one by Evans Jr. and a deep ball from James Julien.
After a three from Oren Betesh made it a one point game, Ofek Reef threw down a dunk in transition to give the Macs the lead.
The Macs would then go on a 28-8 run to close out the half with a commanding 49-28 lead. Turell had 13 during the run.
Turell picked up right where he left off in the second half, connecting from deep on a three to start the scoring in the period.
Ofek Reef and Jordan Armstrong found their way to the rim for two layups each to give the Macs an even larger lead with 16 minutes to go.
Medgar Evers forward Aaron Cotteral hit a three, stole the ball and then threw down a thunderous slam in transition, but it was too little too late as Yeshiva already had a 30 point lead.
Adi Markovich razzled and dazzled his way to a pair of layups maintaining the large lead for the Macs.
The Yeshiva bench came in and kept the great performance going as they closed out the game with a final score of 104-59.
Shutting Down Penetration
Medgar Evers attacked the basket early and often tonight. Andre Evans Jr. created most of their offense off of dribble penetration, which gave the Macs problems in the first ten minutes of the game. The Macs defense then shut down the paint forcing Medgar Evers to hoist up three balls, resulting in an atrocious 3-26 night from downtown.
Knockdown Three-Point Shooting
The Macs came out firing from deep in this one, shooting 50% from beyond the arc and hitting on 15 threes. Ryan Turell shot an efficient 6-10 from deep in this one, and bench guard Oren Betesh contributed with four threes of his own.
Adjusting to the Defense
Medgar Evers came out playing all kinds of defenses, starting with a 1-3-1, which the Macs quickly figured out and exposed. They then switched to a 2-3 which proved to be even less effective against a lights-out shooting team like the Macs, which forced them into a man, which the Macs were able to pick apart, leading to 104 points. Gabe Leifer’s passing was the key to breaking down the Cougars defensive schemes tonight as he led the team with nine assists.
For Medgar Evers:
Andre Evans Jr. was the catalyst on offense, scoring 11 points and dishing out four assists.
Forward Mousa Sinera had a great game with 12 points and ten rebounds for the Cougars.
The Cougars struggled to find the bottom of the net shooting just 3-26 from three and 21-70 from the field.
For Yeshiva:
Turell had an incredibly efficient 38 points.
Ofek scored 16 and Leifer had one of his trademark performances with 11 rebounds, nine assists, and three blocks.
Eitan Halpert contributed nicely with 11 points and six assists.
The bench scored 23 points led by Oren Betesh who connected on four of his six threes.
Up next for the Macs:
The Macs head to Jersey City to play New Jersey City University at 7:00pm on Wednesday night.
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