Eitan Halpert scored a career high 32 points and Ryan Turell added 25 as the Yeshiva offense poured in 88 points in a win at Stevens. With the win, Yeshiva has extended their winning streak to 36 games, tied for second all-time in DIII basketball history.
How it Happened
After a slow start to the game Gabe Leifer hit a three that put the Macs up 7-2 with 16:43 to go in the first half.
Alec Dipietrantonio blocked two shots and Stevens put up 5 straight points to tie the game at 9 before Eitan Halpert broke a four minute Yeshiva scoring drought with a jumper to give the Macs an 11-9 lead.
Ofek Reef scored on back to back buckets giving the Macs a 22-13 lead with around 9 minutes left in the half
Ryan Turell converted on an and one to put the Macs up 30-18 with 5:42 left
Conor Coffey hit a three to cut the Macs lead to 9 with 4:40 left to go in the first half
Halpert made his 3rd three of the half to put the Macs up 41-21.
The Macs went on a 19-2 run to finish the half leading 49-23
Stevens hit two threes on their first two possessions of the half to cut the lead to 49-29.
Halpert continued his hot shooting night with a 3 from the corner for the first points of the 2nd half for the Macs
Turell and Halpert converted on back to back jumpers to give the Macs a 64-31 lead
Halpert hit his 6th 3pt to give him 30 pts with 13:35 left to play and gave the Macs a huge 72-35 lead.
Stevens responded with a 16-6 run to cut the lead to 78-51 but Yeshiva held on to win with a final score of 88-70.
Macs offensive dominance
The Macs were able to impose their will offensively with 49 first half points and were led by the dominant scoring of Eitan Halpert and Ryan Turell who combined for 57 points. Leifer dished out 7 assists and Halpert added 6 more to create open looks for the Yeshiva offense. The Macs were very successful in setting flare screens to create open three point shots and their aggressive takes to the hoop resulted in 34 points in the paint and 16 free throws.
Turnovers
The Macs forced Stevens into 21 turnovers which led to 27 Macs points while the Yeshiva offense turned the ball over just 13 times. Alec Dipietrantonio, the leading scorer for Stevens coming into the game, was stifled by the Yeshiva defense as they forced him into 5 turnovers. In his first two games, Diepetrantonio had only 4 combined turnovers. The Macs did a great job taking care of the basketball against a Stevens team that had averaged 20 forced turnovers/game heading into this matchup.
FT shooting
The Macs had their best shooting night from the FT line shooting 15-16 (94%) including 10-10 in the first half. The Macs have struggled from the line to start this season, but tonight their FT line shooting helped them establish and maintain a big lead throughout this game. On the other side, Stevens shot just 7-14 from the line. Additionally, The Macs set their season high in free throws made (15) and free throw percentage (94%). This game was only the second game in which the Macs shot 80% or better from the line, so it was crucial for the Macs to have a good game from the line to break the slump from the line.
For Stevens
The Ducks were led by Connor Coffey and Lorenzo Spinazzi who each had 14 points.
Alec Dipeitrantonio had 10 rebounds but was held to just 6 points
Stevens shot 27-59 (45.8%) overall and 9-19 (47.4%) from 3pt range.
Stevens struggled at the FT line, shooting just 7-14 (50%).
For Yeshiva
The Macs were led by Eitan Halpert who finished with his career high 32 points on 12-15 overall shooting and 6-7 from behind the arc.
Ryan Turell put up 25 points on 9-18 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds.
Gabe Leifer added 7 assists, 6 points, 4 blocks, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals
The Macs shot 32-61 (52%) overall and 9-22 (41%) from 3pt range.
The Macs shot 15-16 (94%) from the FT line.
Up Next
Yeshiva hosts Manhattanville College on Sunday, March 14th at 2pm for the third matchup of the season between the two teams. Yeshiva won the first two meetings and look to extend the winning streak to 37 games. Be sure to catch all the action right here on macslive.com