win six

as paulie b fled levien gymnasium last saturday, struck half blind and nauseous by the magnitude of the just befallen disaster, he more resembled, as did so many lion rooters heading for the exits, a concussed resident of herculaneum fleeing  his pumice buried city than a disappointed sports fan leaving an arena.  speech was impossible, thought barely so.  the  88 – 83 overtime loss to princeton was the most crushing home court defeat i had witnessed since the manhattan jaspers rallied from four points down with nineteen seconds left to play to snatch a 71 – 70 victory from the not tightly enough clamped jaws of defeat.  that loss, though, came early in the ’13 – ’14 season and in a non-league battle.  this game was literally at the turn for home in an ivy league race and at the hands of the utterly loathsome princeton tigers.   time is running out in the chase for ncaa tourney glory and no opponent draws the bile of light blue fanatics more than the orange and black clad jersey hillbillies.

though no rational inquiry could be launched  or coherent conclusion reached in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe, the blessed passage of a week has lifted some of the suffocating fog from your scribe’s senses and permitted a renewed hope for our heroes’ eventual vindication.  disgusting as it may prove, however, we must begin with rehashing two brief but horrifying stretches of play during last saturday’s brawl.

despite enduring a horrible night’s officiating from a trio of zebras obviously in the employ of the princeton alumni network – the lions were whistled up for 9 more personals than the visitors who outscored the home team by a full fifteen points from the charity stripe – columbia led throughout the contest. so when with 30.1 seconds remaining in the second period grant mullins drained two free throws and the home team’s lead grew to 73 – 68, lion supporters were appropriately pondering what choice vintage would be popped in celebration.  a mere five seconds later, however, tiger first year devin cannady drove the ball to the rim, dropping a lovely teardrop through the twines and the visitors trailed by three with 25.5 ticks on the clock.  alex rosenberg was fouled on the ensuing possession and cashed a free throw that gave the lions a 74 – 70 edge.  young cannady was not finished, however, and drained a trey from the broadway corner of the downtown hoop.  make that 74 – 73, lions.  the tigers fell asleep on the ensuing in bounds play and maodo lo chased down a lead pass for a break away deuce with a mere eight seconds to play that put columbia up, triumphantly it seemed,  76 – 73.   the gods treat us as flies, though, and five seconds later, the unflappable and probably unconscious cannady threw in a trey from 40 feet out, literally.  76 all and they’re going to overtime, folks!

if the lions were staggered by those thirty seconds of play, they did not show it as overtime commenced.  indeed, behind grant mullins aggressive attacks to the rim, they crafted an 83 – 76 lead with 2:13 remaining in ot.  once again, messr cannady stepped forward.  the first year darted through the paint to drop in a layup and get a foul call.  the free throw narrowed the princeton deficit to four with 2:07 on the clock.  thirty seconds later steve cook repeated the performance, driving the rim to score and  receive a free throw.  83 – 82, a minute and half remaining.  a fail on the offensive end for the lions and cannady floated to the hoop and dropped through the deuce that for the first time since the game’s opening minute put the tigers ahead, 84 – 83.  fifty seconds remained in the contest, but the lions were finally done.  a couple of good look three point shots by maodo lo and c.j. davis missed, and four free throws, the epitome of how the boys from jersey’s cornfields had managed to keep up all night, finished the night’s scoring.  the tigers boarded the bus home with an 88 – 83 win.

re-read those last two paragraphs if the action seems a bit confusing.  unquestionably, the last thirty seconds of regulation and the final two and half minutes of overtime represented the most frantically horrifying three minutes of lions’ hoops allgame has ever witnessed.  and, faithful readers, we are not alone in our dismay.  check out coach smith’s post game interview with jerry recco on the gocolumbialions.com website or on the ivy league digital network for a professional statement of incomprehension.

though the skipper was our equal in disbelief  at what had just transpired, he insisted that the squad would be fine in the wake of a stunning fail.  and that is the basket into which lion fans must carefully place their eggs over the last three weeks of this rapidly disappearing campaign.  at 6 – 2, columbia’s sole option is to win out.  a sweep of the last six games is the best they can manage.  at 12 – 2, they would ordinarily be a solid bet for the league title.  but yale’s five remains impeccable.  at 8 – 0, the bulldogs head to the ivy league south this weekend to play princeton and penn.  the tigers gave the elis their closest run battle of the ivy season, falling at new haven, 79 – 75.  let us pray that the orange and black, trailing yale with a 6 – 1 league mark, battle with the same fire they did at levien and end the bulldogs twelve game winning streak.  a lion win over harvard on friday would then leave the lions a single game behind the bulldogs and a half game behind the tigers.  assuming the pack leading trio win their other games, a payback win at princeton’s jadwin gym and a season ending triumph over yale at levien could create a three way tie for the league lead and result in a two game playoff for only the second time in league history for the ivy title and its automatic ncaa berth.  the greatest teams are those most greatly tested.  glorious destiny still beckons the lions!   BEAT HARVARD!!

d up and peace out,

paulie b