photos provided by Dov Halickman Photography

Jerusalem, Israel - The Maccabi USA Men's basketball team won the gold medal at the 20th Maccabiah Games on July 16th. The 15 man team coached by Doug Gottlieb, went into Israel and won all six games en route to a gold medal. Two members of the squad were rising senior Marc Chasin and Travis Warech '13, a standout on the 2012-13 Sweet 16 team at Ithaca College. Although the two didn't play together at Ithaca, they would have a chance to at the Maccabiah Games. Chasin and Warech would play key roles for Team USA.

In the opening game of Group A preliminary play Warech scored a personal best 22 points for the team in a 89-70 victory over France. After not factoring into the opening game, Chasin had his best offensive game in a blowout win over Canada, scoring 19 points. The US team would finish group play with drubbings of Belgium and Mexico to run their record to 4-0 and outscore their opponents by an average of 46 points.

In the semifinals, Warech did it again as he scored 21 points in a 92-69 rout of host Israel. Chasin chipped in six points in the semifinal game. The finals were a rematch of the opening game of group play, as the USA took on France.  In the tightest game of the tournament for the USA Jeremey Lieberman scored a team-high 16, Daniel Janell and Sam Singer both added 12 points and Warech notched 11 as the team held on for the 75-67 win. Overall, the US team went 6-0 and outscore their opponents by a margin of 35.8 points in securing the gold medal. Chasin scored 43 points for the tournament with two double-digit efforts, while Warech scored 66 points and had four games in double-digits.