Eagles Eek Out One-Point Skyline Win Over Yeshiva

NEW YORK, N.Y.  – Evan Mohammed (Bayside, N.Y./Holy Cross) scored a team-high 25 points to lead the St. Joseph's (6-14, 4-9 Skyline) men's basketball team to a 73-72 victory over Yeshiva University (8-10, 5-7 Skyline) on the road Thursday night at the Max Stern Athletic Center.  SJC senior forward Keith Anderson (Central Islip, N.Y./North Babylon) converted a pair of free throws with 1:02 remaining and held on for the one-point Skyline Conference victory.

Anderson (8-for-8 FT) dropped in 20 points and dished out four assists for the Golden Eagles, while Mohammad (four assists, three steals) paced the visitors with his 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting, including a scorching 6-for-7 mark from behind the three-point arc.

Yeshiva senior Gil Bash paced all players with 26 points and seven assists and paced a trio of Maccabees in double-figure scoring, including senior Dovie Hoffman, who had 19, and 12 points from junior Benjy Ritholtz.  Junior Shlomo Weissberg led all players with 12 rebounds on the night, helping YU to a 37-27 advantage on the glass, as well as scoring edges of 36-32 in the paint and 15-9 on second-chance points.

The game featured seven ties and four lead changes, and after heading into the locker room at halftime up 42-38, St. Joseph's stretched its advantage to 61-49 on Mohammed's driving lay-in with 12:06 remaining. YU chipped away at the lead, and eventually tied the contest with 6:03 to go on Bash's trifecta from the top of the key. The Golden Eagles' Cody Lohsen (nine points, eight rebounds) responded with a trifecta on his team's next possession, before Ritholtz answered from the right-hand side of the arc to knot the game back up at 69 with 5:29 left.

Phil Calixte (Amityville, N.Y./Holy Trinity) converted a bucket in the paint for St. Joseph's with 3:41 to go, before Bash took a pass from the post by junior Yoni Eckmann and knocked down a go-ahead three, to put the Maccabees up 72-71 with 2:58 left on the clock.

Anderson scored the next, and what wound up being the final, points of the contest with his pair from the charity stripe with 1:02 to go.  Yeshiva turned the ball over on its subsequent possession, but Mohammed missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with under 23 seconds left. After a SJC foul and Macs timeout, YU senior David Schmelzer saw his 17-footer from the left elbow rim out to the right-hand side. Ritholtz collected the rebound at the right elbow, but his off-balance attempt at the horn missed wide left.

St. Joseph's returns to their home court Saturday evening to face NYU-Polytechnic (4-14, 1-11 Skyline) at 5:15 p.m. in the Danzi Center.