five weeks ago, the columbia men’s basketball team traveled to long island and battled the america east conference power stony brook seawolves. the light blue led by as many as seventeen points on their way to a nine point loss. it was a game that left many of us shaking our heads at a talented, senior laden squad that had yet to notch a marquee win. startingly, and delightfully, as the first friday in february approaches, the lions are a dangerous team preparing for their most significant conference game in almost half a century. not since tom penders’ crew took the floor at levien for the final game of the ’77 ’78 season, with a tie for first place in the ivies on the line, has a more necessary victory loomed. the upcoming battle in new haven has lion followers thrillingly awaiting a win against the detestable bulldogs which will give the lions sole possession of the league lead.
that loss to stony brook was only the second suffered by the light blue since the beginning of december. the dismal funk produced by two narrow post-thanksgiving defeats at the hands of fairfield and longwood has been replaced by the giddy contemplation of twelve wins in fourteen contests. a december 2 failure against st. joseph’s was the only other to have marred the lions run around the new year. it should be noted that those two defeats came at the hands of 18 -3 and 17 -4 squads. as both games were not only winnable, but should have been won, the lions are on one of the notable hot streaks in program history. the victories against dartmouth and harvard this past weekend, two games that set up the game, demonstrated the quality of that heat.
no team gave last season’s injury hampered lion crew more trouble than paul cormier’s boys in hanover. the dartmouth five dropped columbia twice by a dozen points each go round. that big green squad whipped the light blue from the perimeter behind the back court shooting of alex mitola, john golden, and malik gill. two of those guards are gone and dartmouth is spearheaded now by frosh phenom evan boudreaux, a 6′ 8″ forward out of illinois, who has already garnered six ivy league rookie of the week citations. he anchors the hanoverians baseline bullies alongside 6′ 7″ senior conor boehm who has bedeviled the lions throughout his career. gill has returned to provide sixth man juice for cormier via his court vision, opportunistic shot selection and fearless defensive work. it is this last aspect of gill’s portfolio that has been most notable to allgame since we began following him when columbia was recruiting the mt. saint michael’s prep star. listed at 5′ 10″ (a generous number, we think), gill is fearless about matching up against opponents a foot longer than he, relying on his quickly powerful lower body to get and maintain position. simultaneously, he regularly swipes the ball from those bigger fellows. this trio of dartmouth players looked capable of slowing the lions, especially as the manhattanites would have to shake off the trial of a six hour schlep to new hampshire.
columbia, however, arrived ready to run. they sped out to a 10 – 0 lead and stretched that to 32 – 9 with about six minutes remaining in the first period. maodo lo (on his way to 16 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals) and grant mullins (headed to an identical point total) led the energetic light blue who controlled their defensive backboards while consistently limiting the poor shooting home team to one and done offensive sets. boudreaux, though he recorded a season average 15 points on the night, was well contained by a rotating cast of defenders; boehm was ineffective; and gill provided none of his usual off the bench lift. alex rosenberg contributed 14 points and luke petrasek added ten as columbia’s core four dominated throughout. though the hosts would eventually rally, and even closed the gap to within six points a minute into the second half, the hole they had dug was far too deep and they never generated the three point attack necessary to come all the way back. the lions steadied; the counterattack fizzled; and the lions led wire to wire in posting an easier than expected 77 – 60 win.
no ivy coach has given kyle smith more heartache over the years than tommy amaker, the cantabs dapper commander who boasted a gaudy 9 – 1 mark against the lions’ skipper prior to saturday. smith’s tenure on the heights has coincided with amaker’s greatest successes, a five year string of league titles. this year’s crimson squad, however, is decidedly down. wesley saunders, the unit’s anchor for four championship seasons has moved on and siyani chambers, the team’s point guard and leader has withdrawn from school to rehab an acl injury and preserve one more year of hoops eligibility. without those stars, harvard had struggled to a 9 – 10 mark overall and had already dropped two ivy league games (to dartmouth and cornell) when the lions arrived at lavietes gymnasium on the thirtieth. the defending champs found themselves in the unusual position of playing a must win game only three weeks into the league schedule. a wounded beast is dangerous and the cantabrigians would be just that at tip off.
as the lions had routed dartmouth from the get go, so the crimson raced away from columbia. four minutes in and the home team was up 14 – 0. john harvard’s boys bullied the light blue on the baseline offensively and forced them a half step deeper on defense. the customary columbia assault from beyond the three point arc was absent. led by their foremost big man, zena edosomwan and first year guard tommy mccarthy, the cantabs held on to their early lead right through the half time buzzer, leaving the floor ahead 33 – 17 after messr edosomwan muscled home an offensive rebound and cashed the ensuing free throw. the greatest damage had been done down low where harvard owned a prodigious 24 – 10 rebounding edge.
if coach smith has had a more effective halftime, let me know. the lions came out with an altered starting five. smith inserted chris mccomber, a 6′ 8″ canadian who started most of last season in place of alex rosenberg and messr rosenberg, himself, who has been coming off the bench since his return from an early december foot injury. they joined maodo lo, grant mullins and luke petrasek. petrasek opened the lions’ charge back. thirty seconds in, he made a pretty, looping drive to the backboard for a layup and less than a minute later drained a trey. a rosenberg drive brought the deficit to nine at the 18:05 mark. and fifteen seconds later, alex cut the harvard lead to just seven when grant mullins hit him in full stride with a three quarter court length chest pass. it was the prettiest, if not the most thrilling, lion play of the game. while the light blue was showcasing the kind of free flowing, quick offense, they most like to play, they were lock down good on defense and much more efficient on the backboards. the crimson did not score for the first four and a half minutes of the second stanza and columbia was limiting them to one shot trips. though amaker’s crew would build the lead back to ten at the 14:40 mark, the air was out of the home team’s balloon and it was sinking inevitably earthward. the lions finally grabbed a 42 – 41 edge with seven minutes remaining when mullins assisted rosenberg on another drive. the evening’s entertainment was nowhere near complete, however, as harvard first year weisner perez came off the bench to give his mates some much needed offense from outside with a couple of three pointers. so it was with just under four and half minutes remaining and the light blue down 49 – 46, that three of our heroes staged their slickest display of the game. maodo lo stole the ball along the far sideline between the harvard free throw line and midcourt. he fired it upcourt to rosenberg on the same side. the forward spotted mullins, who had struggled all evening to find his shot, cross court and unguarded on the arc in front of the lion bench. this time rosenberg got the assist as ontario’s own drained the trey. 49 all!
columbia trailed again, 54 -53, after a crimson free throw, when they went on the attack with thirty five seconds remaining. maodo lo got a clean look at a long but makeable three pointer from the right side of the top of the key. it rattled out and fell in the hands of harvard’s miller who was fouled with seven seconds left and headed to the charity stripe for only the fourth time this season. he bricked the free throw and jeff coby launched himself over and across the lane to grab the rebound. he fed maodo lo who started up court with under five seconds to play and hit rosenberg at the top right elbow of the key. the short hills native drove to the left of foul line, squared, lifted and drifting left, swished a twelve footer as the buzzer sounded. the lions had won at harvard for the first time since 2008, 55 – 54. columbia fans roared as rosenberg sprinted to the opposite end of the court, pounding his chest while hotly pursued by his exultant teammates.
now yale awaits in the venerable, if somewhat dingy john j, lee amphitheater. two years ago, a game there between these two squads pretty much ended in a brawl. and though they have split the regular season over the last two years, coach james jones owns a 7 – 3 record against coach smith. if the lions are to vindicate their skipper they are going to have apply themselves on the defensive boards. justin sears, yale’s 6′ 8″ center from plainfield, nj who is arguably the league’s best all around player grabs four offensive rebounds a night. harvard battered the lions with second chance shots in the opening stanza in cambridge. the bulldogs have shooters in sophomore makai mason and returning senior brandon sherrod ( back from a season singing with the whiffenpoofs) who will demand a far higher toll for laxity on the boards. the elis also bring along jack montague who delivered a dagger trey against columbia at levien last season. we trust that coach smith will make use of his depth in the front court and defend sears by committee. i count 20 fouls available for judicious distribution, though sears is far more efficient at the foul line than harvard’s edosomwan. rather than counting on bricks from the foul line, we hope that a series of fresh legs will eventually wear down the tenacious, whipcord tough, sears and provide the difference in the game. we like the lions’ depth in this match up and believe they believe that they are road warriors who, unlike coach penders late seventies squad, deserve sole possession of first place in the ivy league.
d up and peace out,
paulie b
Alex’s shot at the buzzer against Harvard was the magic finish to a classic game that will long be remembered by Columbia basketball fans. The context of Columbia having lost 5 straight to Harvard, Harvard having beaten Columbia 2 years ago to dash our Ivy Championship hopes, and beating us because Alex was called for a charge after making the winning basket at the buzzer, Alex who had to leave school for a year with a broken foot to retain eligibility to play on this year’s team- that was the stuff of childhood sports storybooks.