Simcha Halpert

The Yeshiva University men’s basketball team moved up in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll that was released on Monday, Feb. 17, earning the ranking of No. 17 out of all the NCAA Division III schools in the country. It’s the highest the Maccabees have been ranked in school history. Yeshiva earned its first national ranking in school history, back on Jan. 27 of this year, earning the 24th spot. One week later, YU moved up to No. 22. Last week, the Macs were elevated to No. 21 before towering up to No. 17 this week. “The team continues to achieve and bring so much pride to the University and the larger Jewish community,” said Joe Bednarsh, Yeshiva University Director of Athletics. “Great achievements by a great bunch of kids and a great coaching staff.” Yeshiva is currently ranked No. 2 in the Atlantic region and has won a program-record 22 straight games since its season opener. The Maccabees have clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Skyline Conference championships and are currently undefeated in league play at 14-0. There are three players currently on the team that have scored over 1,000 points in their careers. Senior guard Simcha Halpert is third on the YU All-Time Scoring List with 1,740 career points. Third-year forward Gabriel Leifer has generated 1,132 points so far at Yeshiva. Second-year guard Ryan Turell became the first sophomore in YU history to reach the 1,000-point milestone as a sophomore and is the fastest player in school history to accomplish the feat, needing just 47 games to do it. The Los Angeles native currently has 1,014 career points. The full D3hoops.com Men's Top 25 Poll can be seen here.