By Senaya Savir
For the Mitzpeh
@SenayaSavir

The National Hillel Basketball Tournament was in full swing Friday afternoon. With games beginning at 8 a.m., the teams fought competitively for the coveted “Kiddush Cup,” on the tournament’s 7th anniversary. Games will continue through Sunday.

NHBT Director of Human Resources Mai Shachi said this year’s tournament is “bigger and better than ever.” Unlike other tournaments in the past, some of the games will take place at Xfinity Center.

“It’s awesome because it’s allowed us to provide more teams with more playing time in a cool environment where our home Terps play,” Shachi said.

In the hours leading up to Shabbat, several women’s and men’s teams competed at the Xfinity Center.

“This year our Shabbat dinner will host 700 people, more than we’ve ever had before and will include a chocolate fountain for dessert,” Shachi added.

Daniel Jonas, Baruch College’s team captain, said he’s “expecting to run the floor with Towson” in the game today.The Baruch team defeated Towson in the 2:30 p.m. game with a final score of 27-13.Jonas described several reasons why he continues to participate in NHBT.“I love this tournament, we get to enjoy Shabbat dinner, meet great friends, the competition is fierce, the campus is beautiful, it’s been the most fun I’ve had in years so far,” Jonas said.

Another NHBT veteran, Reyna Cohen, goes to Florida International University and plays on the NHBT Individual Team, which includes players from schools that don’t have their own teams.

“We get to meet so many people from different schools and all around the country and get to play basketball and have a great time,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s mother, Bernice Cohen, came to the tournament to cheer on her daughter from the sidelines.

“I think this has been an amazing experience, I find it very special that different colleges from all over the country get together to play and meet other Jewish kids in a very exciting and special way,” she said.

Another parent, Edward Stein, kept a close eye on the referees as he cheered on his daughter Ariel Stein, also part of the NHBT Individual Team.

“Usually when I see someone in the streets wearing stripes I wanna punch them, but I think the officiating has been pretty good so far,” Stein said.

As the first day of the tournament wrapped up in preparation for Shabbat,  the NHBT staff seems to agree that this year’s tournament is off to the right start and is excited for the rest of the weekend’s events.

Dalia Bauman, a sophomore finance major at this university, serves as NHBT’s director of finance. Bauman said the events’ first day went very smoothly overall.

“There haven’t been any major hiccups, a few injuries, but overall it’s been a very good day,” Bauman said. “It’s so nice to see the event come together so well.”

Players and fans can keep track of the weekend’s games and events through the free NHBT app.

Final scores as of 5 p.m. are as follows:

Men Win Loss

2 p.m.
NYU, 31
Columbia (Cooper), 28

2 p.m.
YU (Ammar), 30
Rutgers (Newmark), 19

2 p.m.
UConn, 17
Syracuse (Slutsky) 15

2 p.m.
Baruch (Bezalel) 27
Princeton, (Smits)  16

2 p.m.
YU (Marouani) 20
Maryland (Kuttler) 13

2:30 p.m.
Miami University 24
George Washington University 9

2:30 p.m.
Johns Hopkins (Price) 24
Georgia State 13

2:30 p.m.
University of Kansas (Blue) 41
Washington University 15

2:30 p.m.
YU (Laifer) 20
Queens College (Goldberg) 15

2:30 p.m.
Baruch College (Jonas) 27
Towson 9

3:00 p.m.
Rutgers (Newmark) 28
Towson

3:00 p.m.
Baruch (Bezalel) 22
Yale 18

3:30 p.m
UNC (Somaratne)
NHBT Individual

3:30 p.m.
Concordia 18
American (Weinstein) 15

4 p.m.
Cornell (Akabas)
YU (Sokol)

4 p.m.
Baruch College (Shamah)
Columbia (Cooper)

4 p.m.
Princeton (Smits)
Queens College (Goldberg)

4 p.m.
YU (Ammar) 39
Baruch College (Jonas) 27

4 p.m.
Touro College 37
Towson 6

4:30 p.m.
YU- Laifer 27
Yale 15

4:30 p.m.
YU (Sokol) 25
Baruch College (Shamah) 22

4:30 p.m.
Baruch College (Jonas)
Touro College

4:30 p.m.
NYU 45
Cornell (Akabas) 13

5 p.m.
Queens College (Goldberg) 27
Baruch (Bezalel) 17

5 p.m.
NYU
Baruch College (Shamah)

5 p.m.
NHBT Individual 14
Metro Detroit 12

5 p.m.
Rutgers (Newmark)
Touro College

12 p.m.
Rockland Community College, 28
Maryland (Kuttler), 12

Women Win Loss

3:00 p.m.
Stern
Maryland (Warshawsky)

3:00 p.m.
NHBT Individual 18
Syracyse (Shevrin) 8

3:00 p.m.
Binghamton University 25
Temple (Individual) 10

3:30 p.m
Princeton 8
Columbia (Senkfor) 7

3:30 p.m
UC Berkeley (Kaya) 13
UNC (Migden) 8

3:30 p.m.
UNC (Simon)
Columbia University (Wildes)