rickie a. and i traveled stag to an old stomping ground friday night. i don’t remember shaved parmesan on the caesar salad at v & t’s. for that matter, i don’t remember soap in the restroom at v & t’s. this by way of saying things can get better. having run off 7 straight wins from thanksgiving weekend through december 10, the lions fell to a barrage of 3 pointers up in poughkeepsie courtesy of the marist red foxes. the 79-59 pasting was the worst loss of the season for the blue and featured a hapless combined 7 for 26 shooting from guards brian barbour and meiko lyles. the first half at levien on new year’s weekend seemed to promise the same sort of unhappy outcome as the lafayette leopards rained treys on our boys off deft passes and cleverly set perimeter screens. on the other end of the floor, columbia struggled to free up mark cisco from the stalwart work of j.d. pelham and levi giese who refused to give our number 55 an inch to maneuver comfortably. the half’s frustration found its acme in coach smith’s technical foul (do not be misled by its absence from the box score) following a lengthy conversation with an official about one of the game’s finer points. indeed, coach s was so convinced of the validity of his argument that he literally ran down the striper to reiterate a nuance of his logic and immediately grabbed the t. at the time, it seemed coach might be letting the leopards get under his skin. but he continued to shuttle players in and out looking for a defensive combination quick enough to contend with lafayette’s motion for a full 35 seconds if need be. at one point the lions went very small, featuring 4 guards and forward john daniels. despite the coach’s legerdemain and ref baiting, the blue trailed by 11 at half. a second consecutive loss loomed and the columbia faithful uttered defeatist calumny during the break. pity those who doubt this squad’s resilience! the boys emerged from the locker room with a renewed commitment to defense and the sure knowledge that the leopards could not possibly continue their unnaturally efficient jump shooting. so it proved as the lions worked relentlessly to stymie lafayette’ s perimeter game and started to cut off the leopards’ smart drives to the basket. simultaneously, brian and meiko shook off their offensive blues and lit up the adversary for 21 and 17 points respectively. mr. barbour added 7 assists and 5 rebounds to garner star of the game honors from this spectator. the veteran backcourters were abetted by freshmen alex rosenberg and noah springwater who cashed 9 and 8 points a piece while pressuring the leopard interior defense with vigorous drives to the bucket. nor can we overlook the fine performance of blaise staab whose high energy contributions off the bench added 7 points and 4 rebounds to the team effort in a mere 14 minutes. included in his brief but important turn was the play of the game when john daniels stretched full length to save an errant pass with his left hand and tap it back to blaise who tight roped along the downtown sideline before flashing upcourt to cash a nifty lay in that confirmed the lions’ commitment to leaving the old year victorious.the second stanza proved an utter reversal of the first. having cut the deficit to just 4 points less than five minutes into the half, the lions blew by the leopards, dominating the backboards (led by mr. daniels 8 bounds) and thereby limiting the visitors to one ineffective shot per possession, the lions rode their 29 freethrows (and 19 makes) to a 77-67 win. the closing half again demonstrated the lions’ defensive stubbornness (before the marist game they had been in the top 20 nationally in points allowed per game at 56.4) and the victory capped the lion’s finest december (6-1) since 1969-70 when the squad opened 10-0. january now beckons with 3 last non-conference games to open the new year and then the high drama of the ivy league season. we’ll be in touch after the first weekend of ancient 8 action as your faithful correspondent will be in the stands for the always important battle with princeton.
happy new year to all,
paulie b
One Response to “top to bottom and back again as the lions roar into 2012”
gotta love that v&t’s!