returning home to turn for home

we joined the immense automotive river stretching from bergen to mercer county and did not leave all those car lights until we turned into the parking lot centered amidst princeton’s athletic facilities.  we raced into illustrious jadwin but were still five minutes late for  tip off. the lions were already down ten.  our arrival proved charming, however, and from that moment on the visitors battled back manfully.  they finally managed to knot the score several minutes into the second stanza at 37.  princeton recaptured the initiative though to lead by five with a minute thirty in the game and the possession clock quickly running out on the lions.

with the bench bellowing the countdown “three, two . . .,” and the many blue supporters in the stands shrieking “shoooot,” isaac cohen dribbled to the three point line behind the very top of the key and launched a jumper. the ball hit the front rim, balanced there for an incomprehensibly long moment, and then completed its final demi- rotation down and through the strings.  trailing by two now at 52 – 50, the lions hustled back on defense and held the tigers to a single miss.  as time wound towards the game’s last thirty seconds, columbia snatched the most important offensive rebound of the contest and coach smith barked a time out.  the play he drew up was lovely, but less so than the three point jumper launched by meiko lyles.  the shot partook of none of the theatrics of cohen’s previous effort and efficiently swished home.  53 – 52 and the lion supporters were roaring their jubilation while simultaneously imploring their heroes to play “dee-fense” once more.

princeton’s skipper mitch henderson, desperate to defend his home court and snap the tigers’ uncharacteristic four game losing streak, called time out and drew up a play for lion killer t.j. bray who had already dropped 17 on the visitors.  neither coach nor guard had counted on the ferocious response of first year lion luke petrasek who cut off bray’s drive into the lane and then swatted aside his shot.  the tigers managed to grab the loose ball and launch a final desperate jumper, but it fell away and petrasek gathered in the rebound that sealed the lions’ first win at jadwin since 1993.

the elation of team and fans at snapping that streak was tempered though by the bad tumble taken by guard grant mullins about five minutes into the second period.  he walked off the floor under his own steam but sat for the remainder of the game and headed toward the locker room beside the trainer with the outcome still unsettled.  fans, reading the player’s body language and trainer’s exertions on the bench, whispered amongst ourselves that the canadian had apparently suffered a concussion.  we have read no report confirming this laymen’s diagnosis  but we do know that mullins sat out the saturday dust up against penn.   fran dougherty (a heroic 23 points with 12 rebounds) and the rest of the quakers took advantage of the lions’ deformed rotations and columbia’s failure to sink enough free throws and dropped the new yorkers by 68 – 60.  the loss left the lions at 3 -3 in league play and in fifth place.

the boys return home for a saint valentine’s weekend set against imperial harvard and dinged up but dangerous dartmouth.  this pair of games  represents the completion of columbia’s first trip through the league.  now commences a three week rush to the ivy finish line.   a split of this weekend’s matches is probably necessary to keep the lions relevant in any discussion of the championship.  a sweep and the boys in blue will still be able to imagine a trip to the ncaa tourney.  they need to contain the crimson front court of saunders, casey and mondou-misi which was torn up by yale’s justin sears last week, and hold point guard extraordinaire siyani chambers in check while also guarding larry rivard on the three point line.  control the boards, make the free throws and rediscover the three point efficiency they displayed until early january and the home team should be celebrating a second straight triumph over tommy amaker’s crew at levien.  on saturday evening they need to exploit the injury depleted dartmouth big men.  we count on cory osetkowski, luke petrasek, zach en’wezoh and jeff coby to dominate down low.  they cannot be complacent as paul cormier’s hanoverians dropped them twice last season.

quality manifests itself mid-february in college hoops.  every one nurses some sort of injury.  second stringers must contribute.  it’s gut check time, people.  the lions’ fire on the bench as they battled back against the tigers bodes well in this last regard.   as allgame’s inner circle conducts its pre-game considerations in familiar surroundings at pisticci’s, we will focus on sharpening our sense of who in maroon or green will have to be shut down and who in white and blue needs must step up

peace out and d up,
paulieb