NEW YORK – On Wednesday night, the Maritime College men's basketball team paid a visit to defending Skyline Conference champion Yeshiva.  In a back-and-forth game that featured six ties and seven lead changes, the Maccabees (10-8, 7-2 Skyline) pulled away in the second half for an 81-70 victory over the Privateers (9-9, 5-4 Skyline) at the Max Stern Athletic Center.

Yeshiva jumped out to an early 19-13 lead before Ryan Donovan (North Salem, NY) scored six straight points to even the score at 19-19 with 10:43 remaining in the first half.  After an Evan Block (Seaford, NY) trey at the 9:08 mark put Maritime in front 22-20, the Maccabees went on a 15-6 run to reopen a seven-point advantage, 35-28. 

The Privateers battled back, though, rattling off 10 of the next 11 points to go back in front, 38-36.  After a Max Zahkeim bucket on the other end, Maritime regained the lead on James O'Connell's (East Williston, NY) jumper with seven seconds left.  However, Oren Betesh drove for a layup just before time expired, sending the game into halftime knotted at 40-40.

After Yeshiva opened the second half on a 7-2 spurt, Maritime responded with an 8-2 rally of its own to take a 50-49 advantage with 11:53 to play.  That would prove to be the Privateers' last lead of the night, as the Maccabees used a 21-1 run to go ahead 70-51 with 6:28 left.  Maritime got back within seven when Tyler Anderson's (Smithtown, NY) layup made it 72-65 at the 2:11 mark, but the Privateers would get no closer, as Yeshiva earned an 11-point, 81-70, win.

Donovan paced the Privateers with 15 points and nine rebounds.  He added three assists.  Anderson finished with 14 points and four assists, while Theo Noble (Bronx, NY) contributed 10 points and three assists.  O'Connell chipped in nine points off the bench, and Aleksandar Begovic (Kotor, Montenegro) grabbed nine boards.  As a team, Maritime shot 39.7 percent (25-of-63) from the floor, 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from long range, and 62.5 percent (15-of-24) at the free throw line.

For the Maccabees, Zahkeim led the way with 27 points, while also pulling down eight rebounds.  Matan Zucker had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards to go along with five assists, and Betesh registered 12 points.  Zevi Samet, meanwhile, tallied 10 points and added three assists.  Yeshiva shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) overall, including 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from downtown.  The Maccabees were 23-for-33 (69.7 percent) at the charity stripe.

Maritime hits the road again on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup with St. Joseph's LI (9-8, 6-3 Skyline).  It will mark the end of a span where the Privateers play three out of four away from Riesenberg Gymnasium.