Yeshiva University earns NCAA bid

For the first time ever Yeshiva University men’s basketball team, which has a trio of Five Towners on the roster, captured a championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament as the No. 4 seeded Maccabees (18-10) defeated No. 2 seeded SUNY Purchase 87-81 in the Skyline Conference championship game at Purchase on Feb. 25.

Sophomore forward Gabriel Leifer and freshmen guards Sammy Mandel and Yoav Deutsch are part of the 15-member team coached by Elliot Steinmetz. He is assisted by Benjy Ritholtz and Daniel Tamir.

Leifer and Mandel are from Lawrence, and Deutsch is a Woodmere resident. Both Deutsch and Leifer are graduates of Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere, and Mandel is an alum of the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway.

Yeshiva faces York, Pa. (23-4) in the first found of the tournament this weekend.