Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Yeshiva University men's basketball put an uncharacteristic poor shooting half behind it by equaling its season field goal percentage in the second half, and used a 17-4 run over six minutes in the second half to post an 83-75 non-conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Sunday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Yeshiva (10-1) shot just 42 percent in the first half when it trailed by as 11 with six minutes left in the first half, cut the gap to four by halftime, then shot 54 percent from the field in the second half to build an 11-point lead of its own with six minutes left in the game in recording its tenth straight victory and improve to 8-1 on the road this year.
After missing the last three games with injury, six-foot-seven inch sophomore guard Ryan Turell – averaging 27 points per game through seven games -- was held scoreless in the first half but sparked the Maccabees with 14 points in the second half and senior forward Gabriel Leifer pulled down 11 of his game-high 20 rebounds over the final 20 minutes.
While Eastern (3-5) missed nine of 11 shots from the floor and turned the ball over three times over six minutes in the second half, Yeshiva converted six of ten field goals and three free throws in a 17-4 burst which gave the visitors an 11-point, 74-63 lead with six minutes left. The Maccabees missed nine of 12 three-pointers in the second half but senior guard Simcha Halpert canned back-to-back shots from distance around an Eastern missed three-pointer to push their five-point lead to 11 and close out the run, and effectively, the game.
Eastern led by three points five minutes into the second half before starting sophomore point guard Thomas Close (East Hampton) left the game with an injury. Junior guard Cory Muckle (Westbrook) nailed a three-pointer soon after to give the Warriors a four-point lead but the visitors tied it soon-after, 59-59, when freshman guard Ofek Reef began the 17-4 run with an inside basket off a pass from Turell, and a pair of free throws by Simcha Halpert give Yeshiva the lead for good, 61-59, midway through the half.
While Yeshiva struggled from distance in the second half (3-of-12) after landing 7-of-12 from distance in the first half, the Maccabees outscored Eastern by 11 from the foul line in the second half. Yeshiva was 11-of-13 from the stripe in the second half while Eastern missed its only attempt.
Simcha Halpert led five double-digit scorers with 20 points, Leifer and Turell adding 14 and senior forward Daniel Katz and Reef contributing 13. Leifer's 20 rebounds were more than the combined total of all of his teammates as the visitors were outrebounded by four despite a significant height advantage.
Senior guard Jake Collagan (Wethersfield) had a game-high 23 points for Eastern – 19 coming in the first half. Sophomore forward Seth Thomas (Norwich) recorded his first double-double of the year with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Muckle added 13 points. Sophomore forward Sharown Fowler (Springfield, MA) came off the bench for eight points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes, with six of his points and six of his rebounding coming in 12 first-half minutes. In 22 minutes, Close had eight points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds before departing.
Eastern faces Babson College in the opening round of the Trinity College Holiday Classic Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.
