One Last Ride Continues: YU Stuns Bates in Round 1 Thriller

Marvin Azrak
3 hours ago
5 min read

Behind a dazzling 21-point first-half explosion from Skyline Player of the Year Zevi Samet, clutch free throws from Max Zakheim with 0.2 seconds remaining, and a relentless effort from a team that refused to blink when the pressure peaked, Yeshiva stunned Bates 71–69 Friday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

For the Macs, the win is historic. It marks just the third NCAA Tournament victory in program history and the first since the magical 2020 run to the Sweet 16.

Yet this one had a different feel. This wasn’t a Cinderella story catching lightning in a bottle. This was a senior core that promised a “One Last Ride” stepping into the national spotlight and proving they belonged there.

And it happened in front of a roaring pro-Macs crowd that made the Montclair State gym feel more like Washington Heights than neutral-site New Jersey.

How It Happened:

Bates opened the game firing threes — and missing. YU, meanwhile, missed a couple of bunnies but at least looked organized offensively, clearly trying to trade good shots for great ones. The crowd was electric with pro-Macs energy. It felt a akin to MSAC
Early defensive sign for YU was that Bates' possessions were mostly one-and-done.
Roy Itcovichi went 2/2 from the line putting the Macs up 4–2 four minutes in.
Bates tried to move the ball, but nothing was going early. YU’s defense was aggressive and active.
Jamari Robinson got inside for Bates to tie it 4–4.
Zevi Samet and Max Zakheim both missed threes, and Mann scored the other way. Suddenly it was 6–4, Bates.
Yoav Oselka responded the right way. Big interior rebound, fake, finish, and the and-one. YU back in front 7–6.
Freshman Yair Dovrat dropped an incredible feed to Samet for a spin-o-rama finish. Then Zevi did it again on the next trip. His cutting and slicing had the defense spinning. Macs up 11–7.
Bates didn’t look comfortable running the clock down. They had already used nearly 12 players in the rotation, while YU had only used six. And the crowd was loud on every call, every miss, every make.
One concern, though, was that Bates already had five offensive rebounds.
Roy and Zevi each knocked down threes, but Bates answered right back. Now we had a game. YU led 17–14 with 8:54 left in the half.
Then Zevi hit one from deep. 20–14 Macs.
Samet wasn’t done. Another three. Suddenly, he had 13 of YU’s first 23 points, and the Macs led 23–14. Timeout Bates. The YU crowd was in a frenzy.
Oselka spun inside for another bucket. 25–16 Macs.
Samet nailed another step back three, before notching another, making it 35–26 YU.
Just before the halftime buzzer, Samet spun and finished again. At halftime, it was YU 39, Bates 28. Zevi had 21, including five threes and the buzzer-beater.
Freshman Yair Dovrat opened the second half with a huge three. 44–34 YU.
Bates began pushing the pace and moving the ball faster. The Macs had to answer.
Offensively, YU went inside as Bates shifted into a 1–2–2 press. Oselka and Bardichev started scoring around the rim.
Then a scare: Skyline Championship MVP Max Zakheim (toe injury) went down and was questionable to return, a huge wrench in YU’s upset plans.
Without him, the motion offense stalled. Bates face-guarded Samet and forced contested shots. Meanwhile, the Bobcats attacked the rim and got to the free-throw line.
Suddenly things became tight as it was 60–58 YU with 6:50 left.
Brady Coyne nailed a triple and Bates took the lead 61–60 with 5:40 remaining.
Dothan Bardichev answered in a huge way. First a corner three, then a transition hoop-and-harm. YU back up 66–61.
Then the moment the crowd had been waiting for: the return of Zakheim.
Bates stayed disciplined defensively, keeping their hands straight up and blocking a couple of Samet drives. The lead shrank to 66–65 YU with 3:20 left.
The next stretch was pure chaos. Bates fumbled passes, missed open layups, and corner threes. YU air-balled a couple of threes themselves. With 1:33 left, things remained 66–65.
Then Samet delivered again. Contested three. YU up 69–67 with 58 seconds left, also becoming the first Maccabee to amass 2,500 points in his career.
Bates turned the ball over. Samet cut inside for a wide-open layup and somehow missed. Timeout Bates with 25.6 seconds left.
Bates tied it on a layup by Sean O’Leary.
Samet tried to win it himself with a three, but he airballed.
Bates had one last chance with seven seconds left. O’Leary drove behind the back for a layup but missed.
Zakheim grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0.2 seconds left.
Back in November against Tufts, Zakheim missed his chance to ice the game at the line.
Yet now in March, just like he did in the Skyline Finals against Farmingdale, the Red Rocket stayed calm, cool, and collected.
Two free throws with 0.2 seconds left as YU led 71-69. Oselka picked off Bates’ desperation heave, and that was it. The Macs survived and completed the upset.
For the second time in school history, the Macs won an NCAA Tournament first-round game. Just the third national tournament win ever.

The Monsey Mamba:

Zevi Samet’s first-half scoring burst — five threes and 21 points. forced Bates to completely alter its defensive approach. Early on, the Bobcats tried to play YU’s motion offense straight up. That lasted only a few possessions. Once the Shtark Shooter started drilling threes from deep, Bates had no choice but to face-guard him and extend their defense well beyond the arc. That opened everything else.

With Bates stretched out defensively, Yoav Oselka found space inside, cutters had more room to operate, and the ball reversal that drives YU’s motion offense became much more effective. Even when Samet stopped scoring as easily in the second half, limited to just six points, the damage had already been done. The defensive attention he commanded created spacing advantages that allowed others to make key plays.

Interior Control Neutralized Bates’ Physical Identity:

Coming into the game, Bates’ formula was to crash the glass, create second chances, and turn the game into a physical possession battle.

For stretches, they succeeded. The Bobcats grabbed multiple offensive rebounds and tried to manufacture extra possessions. However, YU controlled the interior battle when it mattered most.

Oselka’s presence in the paint made finishing inside difficult, forcing Bates’ big man Babacar Pouye to spend more time spacing the floor and shooting from outside rather than attacking the rim. On the other end, Oselka’s footwork and strength created efficient scoring opportunities in the paint. In contrast, Bardichev’s timely scoring, including a huge corner three and transition and-one late, punished Bates whenever the defense collapsed.

Bates had to rely heavily on perimeter shooting rather than the physical inside game that often fuels their offense. That helped YU maintain stability whenever the game started to swing.

Late-Game Maturity:

Earlier in the season, games like this slipped away. Against Tufts in November, YU had chances to close and couldn’t. Against Mary Washington, they led late and watched the game spiral into a painful double-overtime loss. Free throws were missed. Possessions got rushed. Friday looked like it might follow that same script.

The lead shrank. Bates took control for a moment. Shots stopped falling. And when Samet missed a wide-open layup late, the game felt like it might slip away again. Yet, this time, the Macs responded differently.

They stayed composed defensively. They didn’t panic offensively. And when the decisive moment came, Max Zakheim delivered.

After grabbing a rebound with 0.2 seconds remaining, Zakheim calmly stepped to the free-throw line, the same situation that haunted him earlier in the season in Tufts, and knocked down both shots. That sequence captured the entire season in one moment. The Macs didn’t just survive the pressure; but thrived. They handled things like a veteran team that had learned from every close loss earlier in the year which is why they completed the upset and are moving onto the round of 32.