Yeshiva Reaches Their First Sweet 16 But That’s Only Part Of The Story
Yeshiva is a small Orthodox Jewish university in New York City. Their enrollment is 5,904. That includes both grad school and undergrads. The Maccabees beat Penn State Harrisburg 102-83 last night to reach their first Division 3 Sweet Sixteen. The game started at 8:45PM and was played in front of no fans, This is where the story begins.
Yeshiva lost their first game of the season to Occidental College. Since then they have won 29 in a row. They are averaging 86 points a game while allowing 70. Ryan Turell leads them in scoring at 24 points a game. They were ranked #15 in the country according to the last poll. The Orthodox Jewish community participates in Sabbath from sun down Friday to sun down Saturday. This means they put their lives on hold to study the bible, attend services, and spend time with family. This is why last night’s game tipped off well after sunset. Yeshiva needed time to prepare since they didn’t find out their opponent until after Sabbath ended. They also needed to get to the gym and warm up.
Another wrinkle in this story is Coronavirus. Yeshiva has had both students and professors test positive for the virus in the last week, The first and second round games in their section took place at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. The hotel they were scheduled to stay at canceled their reservations on Thursday due to a fear for the safety of their guests and staff. The school thinks there is a racial component but the hotel denies it. Luckily they found another hotel and played their games.
The story continues Friday in Ashland, Virginia when they play Randolph Macon in the Elite 8. Goog Luck Maccabees!! I will be watching.
