New York, NY (Feb. 18, 2019) – Purchase College put together a 15-5 run after Yeshiva University led by eight with three minutes left in play, and held off the host Maccabees 98-96 Monday night at the Max Stern Athletic Center. With the win, the Panthers finish the regular season with a 15-10 overall record and secure the No. 4 seed in the Skyline postseason with a league record of 13-7.

Junior guard Elijah Lott (East Greenbush, NY) hit two free throws to give Purchase a 98-96 advantage with eight ticks left in regulation time. On the next possession, Yeshiva's Simcha Halpert attempted a 3-point shot with seconds remaining to win the game, but came up short just as time expired.  

Lott finished with 23 points and a game-high nine assists. Senior guard Willie Britton (Bronx, NY) led the Panthers in scoring with 28 points, including and impressive 11-of-16 from the charity stripe. Junior guard Maxx Miller added to the winning effort with 17 points and a team-best nine boards, while senior captain Michael Soffer rounded out the double-digit scoring with 12 points.

Leading the way for the Maccabees was junior forward Gabriel Leifer who produced game-highs with 33 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, six blocked shots, and three steals.  Halpert netted 20 points, while freshman guard Ryan Turel lproduced 16 points, grabbed seven boards, and had four assists.

Back-and-forth scoring in the opening half resulted in 10 lead changes. After Britton's free throw extended Purchase's advantage to 42-37, Yeshiva countered with nine straight points, capped off by a 3-point field goal from Halpert, to propel the home team to a 46-42 lead.

The Panthers answered with a run of their own, as Britton's layup put Purchase in front, 47-46, with 2:36 remaining in the half. With the game tied, 48-48, Miller converted a shot from beyond the arc to put Yeshiva in a three-point deficit with 1:16 left to play.

On Yeshiva's next possession, senior forward Tal Gweta found Leifer who drained a 3-point field goal to tie the game. Both teams went into the intermission knotted up, 51-51.

In the second half, Yeshiva scored 10 unanswered points to take a commanding 72-60 lead with 11:12 remaining in regulation time. The run was capped off by a layup from Leifer. With 9:24 left to play, Leifer tipped the ball into the basket, off his own rebound, to extend YU's lead to 76-62.

After Purchase rallied to pull to within five, junior guard Tyler Hod drained a 3-point field goal to extend the Blue and White's lead to 91-83 with 2:53 left on the clock. Purchase answered as Lott nailed a 3-pointer to cap off five straight scored by the visiting team to shrink YU's hold to 91-88 with less than two minutes remaining.

A pair of free throws by Hod made the score 94-90 in favor of Yeshiva, with 1:23 to go. Britton answered with two shots from the charity stripe to cut the Macs' lead to two. After Purchase held Yeshiva scoreless on the next possession, Lott executed a layup to tie the game, 94-94, with 53 seconds remaining. Halpert was fouled on Yeshiva's next possession and was sent to the free throw line. He hit both shots to allow YU to regain a two-point lead with 43 seconds to go.

Lott would strike again, laying the ball up and in to tie the game, with 17 seconds left to play.

Yeshiva had an opportunity to win it, but Soffer knocked the ball away from Hod and into the hands of Lott, who was fouled right away. He went two-for-two from the line to give Purchase a narrow two-point lead with eight seconds to go. Halpert's 3-point attempt was off the mark and Purchase went on to win the game.

Yeshiva (18-7, 16-4 Skyline) will enter the Skyline championships as the No. 2 seed and earn a first-round bye. Farmingdale State will compete in the conference playoffs as the No. 1 seed. The Maccabees and Rams finished with identical conference records and will each hold a share of the Skyline Regular Season title. However, since Farmingdale had a better record against Mount Saint Mary, Yeshiva lost the tiebreaker. 

Yeshiva will play the winner of the No. 3 Old Westbury vs. No. 6 Mount Saint Mary first round game, in the semi-final round at the Max Stern Athletic Center, on Friday afternoon beginning at 12 p.m.

No. 4 Purchase will host No. 5 Sarah Lawrence College, in the first round, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The winner will play at No. 1 Farmingdale State on Friday.

-Yeshiva Sports Information contributed to this release