After an impressive first win last night at Manhattanville, the Macs looked to complete the weekend sweep against the Valiants on Sunday. Absurd outside shooting in the first half opened up a lead for the Macs, and they never looked back.
How it happened:
Ryan Turell made a deep wing 3-pointer at the 18:00 minute mark of the first half to give the Macs their first lead of the game. They would hold on to this lead for the remainder of the contest.
Off of a steal by Gabe Leifer, Turell found Eitan Halpert for a corner three. Shortly after, Halpert would return the favor to Turell by finding him for another 3-pointer, extending the lead to eight.
Hot shooting from Jake Dunn and a blow-by from Tommy Lotito gave the Valiants a 7-0 run, as they cut the Macs lead to 19-17.
A 3-pointer from Adi Markovich followed by Turell’s fifth 3-pointer of the half widened the lead to 11 for the Macs.
A lob from Leifer to Ofek Reef for a one handed slam put an exclamation point on the first half and after a banked-in runner by Dunn as time expired, the Macs led 43-32 at the intermission.
The Macs came out of the break a little sluggish and turned the ball over several times. They traded baskets with Manhattanville as neither team was able to make a significant change to the score differential.
Connor Yetman and Sean Smith led a mini 6-0 run for Manhattanville as they cut the Macs lead to four around the 14:30 mark.
The Macs came back with an 11-2 run of their own led by Turell and Markovich, which was capped off by a Nadav Altit layup that extended the lead to 65-53 with just under ten minutes to go.
Smith got going towards the end of the second half for Manhattanville, but could not do enough to close the gap.
The Valiants eventually tried to amp up the pressure with a full court press, but could not rattle the Macs and Markovich hit a dagger 3-pointer to make it 84-71 with just over three minutes to go.
3-Point Shooting:
The shooting of the Macs gave them an enormous cushion in the first half of the game. Turell made five 3-pointers in the first half and the Macs as a team made 11 of their 23 first half 3-point attempts. Turell finished the game with 36 points on six made 3-pointers and Halpert added five 3-pointers of his own.
The Macs struggled to convert on the interior in the first half, making only 2 of 12 shots. However, they were able to convert many more opportunities inside during the second half by cutting away from the ball.
Dunn gave Manhattanville a lift with his shooting and shot making as he made several of his own 3-pointers.
Assists:
Yeshiva created many opportunities throughout the game by finding cutters and hitting open men off of screen-assists and off ball movement.
Leifer connected with Reef several times on lobs over the defense and found Turell cutting behind the defense for a few more baskets.
The Macs freed up shooters with screens including a double screen by Leifer and Oren Betesh to set up an open Turell for three.
Two-way play from Markovich:
Freshman guard Adi Markovich provided a big boost for the Macs with his stellar two-way play. Markovich added several more to the Macs barrage of 3-pointers. In addition to his cutting off of the ball he made a nice feed inside to Turell off of a drive. He added to his offensive game with hounding defense, forcing several turnovers and causing Manhattanville to burn a timeout.
For Manhattanville (0-2):
Smith and Dunn led the way for Manhattanville with 23 and 20 points respectively.
They received help from Yetman who added 12 more points and Lotito who put in 14 of his own.
Manhattanville was plagued by poor free throw shooting for the second game in a row. They shot just 5-13 (38%) from the line during the game and did not convert on many of their open looks.
For Yeshiva (2-0):
The Macs were led by Turell and Halpert, who contributed 36 and 17 respectively.
Leifer had 12 points to go along with his 12 assists and 12 rebounds en route to a triple double, while Reef added 11 more points.
The Macs 18 made 3-pointers propelled them to a 94-73 victory.
The game is available on demand on both our YouTube channel and on our watch live page.