columbia has won five straight and the lions are starting to resemble the team we anticipated back at season’s outset. the three losses that preceded the current success were by a total of four points. seven points judiciously distributed over those matches would have them boasting a gaudy 12 – 2 record and looking like the ivy league’s unquestionably best team heading into conference play. the streak has been fashioned despite the absence of two senior starters, messrs isaac cohen and alex rosenberg. cohen’s pcl injury is the more serious of the two and has had him sidelined since the tough one point loss at levien to longwood back on november 28 and the do everything floridian probably has a couple more weeks of rehab in front of him. rosenberg took a spill in the more recent njit game but already seems recovered enough from the resultant sprained foot to be ready for the fast approaching ivy league season.
the current streak commenced after three tortuously close fails, by one in overtime on the road to the fairfield stags, by a point again to the visiting longwood lancers of no doubt bucolic farmville, virginia and then by a full bucket to cusp of the hall of fame coach phil martelli and his st. joe’s hawks. a road win at bucknell broke up this dreary span of three winnable games all dropped because of some less than fully buttoned up defensive work. that laxity was evident still in the first half of the december 6 battle against the visiting delaware blue hens. guard cazmon hayes was unconscious for the first twenty minutes, taking and draining four treys while leading the visitors to a 38 – 32 halftime lead. hayes’s 24 point effort was augmented by his backcourt teammate kory holden who tallied 23 for the game. in the second half, though, columbia’s maodo lo was a step quicker getting to the perimeter and hayes went a dismal one for eight from beyond the arc. neither could the blue hen guard turn the corner on the stalwart lion who got reliable help from his big men whenever it seemed hayes might sneak past him. a corollary of lo’s tougher defense was the increased effort of the light blue generally who forced 12 turnovers on the night. as the second period wore on, delaware coach monte ross found himself increasingly frustrated by the refs refusal to whistle up the lion defenders. prodded finally unto madness, coach ross managed to utter the magic words that elicited a technical foul. after looking at the score card, however, one can’t sympathize with ross’s indignation as the lions’ edge at the foul line was slight (19 makes in 26 tries versus the hens’ 16 in 22). the light blue’s heightened attention to defensive detail allowed them to pull away from the visitors and post an 82 – 69 win. they were led on the offensive end by the first and third year big men lukas meisner and luke petrasek who tallied 15 and 16 points respectively. meisner also grabbed 7 rebounds, announcing his readiness for increased responsibility as the season proceeds.
while delaware was tipped off versus the lions for the first time, an old riveal loomed on december 9 when the lions traveled to the top of the irt 1 line to tangle with steve masiello’s manhattan squad. the jaspers won the last encounter between these city rivals, edging the lions 71 – 70 on some late heroics by the now departed whippet of a small forward george beamon who dropped 26 on the light blue at levien. beamon’s overall effort was impressive, but his greatest damage was done inside of fifteen seconds when he drained the first of two free throws to bring the manhattan ballers within one and then slipped around a a box out to snag his missed second shot and rattle home a go ahead lay up. the lions’ last gasp was a slightly underthrown toss to the rim on an out of bounds play that then first year luke petrasek could not guide home. now a junior, petrasek enjoyed a measure of satisfactory revenge this go round, scoring 26 points on the night at manhattan’s venerable draddy gymnasium. like beamon, petrasek saved his best for last draining a trey from the corner opposite columbia’s bench to seal a 72 – 71 comeback win – the lions’ second road victory of the campaign. the long islander was supported in his efforts by fellow forward alex rosenberg who tallied 21 including a 16 – 19 performance at the charity stripe. manhattan went on from that comeback one point victory over columbia in 2013 to get to the ncaa tourney. let’s hope the lion win a similar augur.
on the 12th, coach jim engles brought his rising njit squad to levien. it was a homecoming of sorts for young engles who helped start the revival of columbia’s basketball fortunes as an assistant to coach joe jones after the calamitous (2 -26) season under armond hill. it was the jones’s regime that laid the conditions upon which kyle smith has built in returning the lions fully to respectability. having departed the heights, engles has taken a njit program that went winless for virtually two seasons and turned them into a competent outfit that dropped a then 16th ranked michigan crew at ann arbor last december. they are the sole member of the atlantic sun conference campused north of the mason-dixon line and looking to make it to the tournament. they are led by a quick and feisty, if slightly undersized, guard named ky howard who would score 23 against columbia. howard had the highlanders up early, but the lions did not wait so long as they had against delaware before asserting themselves defensively. columbia’s offense took off sooner as well and the light blue was up at half time, 38 – 25. riding maodo lo’s 23 points and petrasek’s nine points, seven rebounds and five blocks, they held on for the comfortable eleven point win. njit rallied briefly after coach engles got t’d up at the 12:14 mark of the second stanza as the visitors were about to fall behind by twenty, but their indignation never got them closer than ten.
the following monday, the lions hosted the robert morris colonials for a matinee before an exclusive gathering of 462 supporters. the gocolumbialions.com site has enthused over maodo lo’s 8 three pointers – a record tying levien performance that now has him ensconced in lion records besides the never to be forgotten dragutin kravic who set the mark back in ’04. allgame much prefers lo’s unforgettable league record performance last march against the despicable princeton tigers when the berlin bomber drained 11 of 15 attempts from beyond the arcs at jadwin. that curryesque outburst went for naught as the lions fell in a clearly fixed game that saw the princetons attempt thirty free throws to a mere nineteen for our heroes. in any case, the lions followed lo’s lead in making short work of the colonials by a misleadlingly close 78 – 71 margin.
columbia finished its exertions for december by dropping the howard bison who are currently led by the nation’s scoring leader, 5′ 10″ guard james daniel who is filling it up to the tune of 28 plus points per night. he had 36 against columbia on the 28th, going 16 – 17 from the free throw line in the process, but the rest of the bison are significantly less talented. none of them scored in double figures and the lions, behind petrasek’s 16 points and 11 rebounds, manhandled them down low. a densely packed crowd of 1,500 in the east side bleachers watched the lions cruise to a fairly easy 72 – 59 win.
in about two hours, the light blue confronts the stony brook seawolves . columbia lost to steve pikiell’s squad twice last season, including on opening night when they played in the first game ever at their hosts’ fine though ponderously named island federal credit union arena. stony brook is led by jameel warney, an nba power forward masquerading as a div 1 center. averaging 20 points per game while grabbing 11 rebounds, warney is simply the best big man the lions face in non-league play this season and only yale center justin sears, warney’s homeboy from plainfield, nj, will present as many challenges to the lions come ivy play. two seasons ago, the lions held off stony brook at levien behind solid work from the trio of lion defenders handling warney. they will need a similar committee effort to limit him again. messr warney is surrounded by a solid supporting cast that should be headed to the big dance after this year’s america east conference tournament. warney’s crew has been playing well and already boasts one ivy league trophy on its belt having hammered princeton 91 – 77. this should be a terrific game and we hope that luke petrasek (who already has claimed three ivy league player of the week awards) continues his solid play while maodo lo’s three point form remains impeccable. a payback win means the lions should finish the non-league portion of their season at 12 -5 and should buoy them heading into ivy play.
any fan must be pleased that the light blue are rounding into form as the ivies tip off. league plays means facing two tough defenses each weekend. columbia’s quickness in the backcourt should prevent teams from over playing the light blue’s three point efficiency. lo, grant mullins, kyle castlin and c. j. davis can all get to the rack while petrasek’s length, accurate jumper and deft passing make him a test for every front court the lions will meet. should coach smith continue to emphasize and receive defensive execution, his charges will be a handful for any ivy opponent that awaits them. our season opening title remains our credo, the road to houston starts on broadway this year.
peace out and d up,
paulie b
Thanks, Paulie, Always a pleasure.