New York, N.Y. – Sophomore
Jayden Figueroa (New Windsor, N.Y.) poured in a career-high 26 points and
Jayden Racca (New Fairfield, Conn.) scored a season-high 10 points, but it was not enough on Saturday night as the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team suffered a 90-78 road loss at Yeshiva in its Skyline Conference opener.
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 2-6 overall on the season and to 0-1 in conference play, while the Maccabees improve their overall record to 6-4 and their conference standing to 4-1.
First Half
- The Knights came out firing in the opening 20 minutes, scoring 41 points and shooting better than 51-percent from the field prior to the intermission.
- The Maccabees built an early 9-4 advantage on an Oren Betesh triple inside the first five minutes of play, but the Knights quickly responded with the next five points to grab a 10-9 advantage.
- The Mount would fall behind 23-22 on another Betesh three-pointer, but answered with eight straight points, capped by a Figueroa slam, to grab a 30-23 lead with 8:10 left before the intermission.
- Yeshiva battled back with a 12-5 stretch to knot the score at 35-35 on a Zevi Samet three-pointer with 2:32 left in the opening period.
- The two sides would trade the lead three times the rest of the half before a pair of Racca free-throws and a Connor Cyran (Garfield, N.J.) bucket gave the Mount a 31-38 lead in the final minute of the period.
- Yeshiva got to within 41-39 after 20 minutes on a Matan Zucker free-throw in the final half minute before halftime.
- Mount Saint Mary shot a blistering 51.5-percent from the field before halftime and knocked in a pair of three-pointers.
- Yeshiva converted at just under 42-percent overall in the half, but kicked in seven triples.
- Cyran paced the Knights with 11 first half points.
- Betesh led all scorers at the break with 13 points on the strength of a 4-fof-5 effort from behind the arc.
Second Half
- Yeshiva continued its hot shooting from distance early in the second half with back-to-back treys from Roy Itcovichi and Betesh knotting the score at 49-49.
- The Maccabees went on to use a Gabriel Landau triple with 14:08 left in regulation to grab a 54-51 lead.
- Yeshiva held on to the lead until the 10:28 mark when Cyran converted a layup to push the Mount back in front 59-58.
- The two sides would trade the lead three times after the Cyran bucket before an 11-3 stretch from the Macs gave them a 72-65 advantage with 6:38 left to play.
- Yeshiva's lead grew to double-figures for the first time when an Itcovichi layup pushed the Macs in front 77-67 with just under six minutes left to play.
- The Mount would only be able to inch to within eight points the rest of the way with Yeshiva expanding its lead to a game-high 14 points on a pair of Zamet free-throws with 26 seconds remaining.
- Figueroa knocked in a pair from the free-throw line with 15 ticks left to give him a career-high point total and bring the Knights to within the final 12-point deficit.
- Mount Saint Mary slipped to 44.8-percent shooting after halftime and struggled from distance, going just 2-for-10 from behind the arc.
- Yeshiva shot a red-hot 66.7-percent in the second half, including an 8-for-14 effort from three-point range.
- Figueroa went 5-for-8 from the field and converted six free-throws on his way to 17 second half points.
- Betesh led three Maccabees in double-figures in the second half with 12 points.
For The Knights
- Figueroa reached a new career-high in scoring after going 9-for-15 from the floor with a pair of triples. He closed a big night with six rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Knights.
- Cyran scored in double-figures for the fifth straight game, posting 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting. He contributed four rebounds, two assists and two steals on the night.
- Racca reached double-figures for the first time this season, scoring 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting.
- Chris Yearwood (Red Hook, N.Y.) joined Figueroa with a team-high five assists.
- Elijah Barnett (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) chipped in eight points, four boards and three steals.
For The Maccabees
- Betesh came off the bench to lead a balanced scoring attack with 25 points, going 8-for-11 from the floor and 6-for-8 from three-point range. He added six rebounds and three assists to the winning effort.
- Itcovichi scored 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting, closing a double-double with a game-high 14 rebounds.
- Samet tallied 15 points and handed out four assists.
- Zucker finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
- Dothan Bardichev scored 10 points and led all players with six assists.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary shot 48.4-percent from the field overall, but just 4-for-15 from three-point range.
- Yeshiva converted at 53.6-percent for the game and shot a blistering 51.7-percent from three-point range (15-for-29).
- Mount Saint Mary dominated inside, outscoring the Maccabees 50-22 in the paint.
- The Knights doubled up Yeshiva in points off of turnovers, 20-10.
- Second chance points went to Yeshiva 18-6.
What's Next
- The Knights play host to Sarah Lawrence on Wednesday.
- Yeshiva travels to Mount Saint Vincent on Monday.
