one should forgive the preoccupation of the some 2,500 fans filing into levien last friday. though the evening’s assignment was “beat the crimson,” most of us were gathered in hasty grief counseling sessions, trying to wrap our heads around the sudden, stunning overtime loss to princeton the saturday prior. that game had seemed so well in hand, so often and so late in the contest, that the defeat felt like the ghastliest of nightmares – inexplicable in its terror, incomprehensible in it course. though we were shaken, coach smith had assured the media that the lion five “would be fine.” having struggled through the ivy schedule, harvard had nonetheless led the light blue by 16 points at halftime back on january 30 in the first contest between this pair. the lions, however, had dominated the second half and caught the cantabs at the wire on alex rosenberg’s driving jumper. that one point victory was columbia’s first at lavietes pavilion since 2008 and coincided with the lions last season sweep of harvard. a similar outcome was required on the 19th if columbia wanted to keep alive their only assured path to the post season.
part of the lions’ struggle in the first meeting against the crimson was rebounding. more specifically, zena edosomwan had dominated in the paint, grabbing nine boards before leaving the game late with an injury. overall harvard had owned the glass, 43 – 29. this go round columbia edged the cantabs off the backboards 23 – 22 and that difference in rebounding seemed to translate into several other advantages for the lions. messr rosenberg found himself with a bit more room on the perimeter, from whence he punished harvard with one of his more confident performances of the season from the three point line. when the crimson bigs tried to close on him outside, the short hills native put the ball on the floor and drove to the rim. his 23 points on the evening led the light blue. maodo lo chipped in with 22 points, three of which came on a gorgeous bank shot from the back court five second line. lo’s form on the three pointer was impeccable and he eyeballed it all the way through the twines as the backboard blazed red. the shot, deservedly, showed up on espn’s saturday morning top ten.
the second half was perhaps the most complete period the lions have played in the ivies this season. the offense was quickly alert, frequently making the extra pass that found a wide open shooter on the perimeter or a cutter going to the rim. certainly for the last ten minutes of the contest, the defense was equally fine and harvard seldom had a clean look, inside or out, as the lions steadily built on lo’s buzzer beater and dropped the visitors 90 – 76.
the dartmouth team that columbia had whipped 77 – 60 back on january 29 in new hampshire broke from the gates saturday night as though intent on, and capable of, revenge. indeed, paul cormier’s crew led 24 -15 with eight and half minutes remaining in the first half and a restive crowd wondered if the lions would fall flat. foolish fear as columbia outscored the hanoverians 58 – 30 from there on. evan boudreaux, the dartmouth first year standout tallied 16 but was an inefficient 5 – 18 from the field and his 7 rebounds were outbalanced by 7 from lo and jeff coby and half dozen each from luke petrasek and lukas meisner. the lions cruised, 73 – 54.
this sets up another absolutely necessary weekend of victories which must be gained on the historically toughest of ivy league hoops trips, the visit south to jadwin gymnasium and the palestra. the friday night dust up in princeton provides the lions with a quick opportunity to even the score from that horrific loss at levien on the 13th. we trust the light blue will get a fairer deal than they received from the zebras on morningside where the tigers scored fully one third of their points at the foul line. assuming even handed officiating, the light blue will still have to contain princeton center pete miller who savaged them for 20 points down low in the last contest. they will have to prevent miller from pitching camp too comfortably deep in the paint and deny him the entry passes that led to easy layups. i figure luke petrasek will help in occasionally fronting miller while jeff coby will have to establish position behind the big tiger and force him away from the hoop a bit. on the perimeter, the lions basically shut out princeton’s leading scorer, henry caruso, last go round but first year devin cannady (23 points) killed them. it will be difficult to lock down all the tiger shooters – spencer weisz, amir bell and steve cook can fill it up as well – but they’ll have to limit them all to only average performances. grant mullins has been playing terrific defense of late and will have to be quick all evening. maodo lo has been swiping the ball throughout the season and we hope his hands are especially sticky versus princeton. the coaching staff considers isaac cohen their best all round defender and we trust he will be charged with slowing down, if not shutting out, one of the tiger scorers. none of this will be a one man job and we expect the alert helping defense that the lions have demonstrated through much of the campaign to be on display. on the offensive side, the lion trio of senior scoring leaders – lo, rosenberg and mullins – will have to bring their inside/outside games. and i’d prefer that they attack the hoop first. drives to the glass will draw some fouls from princeton and might additionally loosen them up on the perimeter a bit. and though all three of the seniors pride themselves on their first step and their handles, i hope they will be looking for open teammates when they go to the hoop. all in all, however, i expect the opposing stars to offset one another and the game should come down to the performance of the respective benches. myles stephens had an efficient and hurtful outing for the tigers on the 13th when alex brennan chipped in, too. the lions have a longer line of reserves and i count on kyle castlin, nate hickman, c.j. davis and chris mccomber to be the critical difference makers in a columbia victory.
assuming the best on friday, the lions cannot be dismissive of their upcoming saturday night opponents. they dropped the quakers by ten points two weeks ago and would have won by more than twenty had they hit their free throws. by the same token, none of the sterling lion seniors have ever won in philadelphia where one can expect a trio of palestra loving zebras refereeing. player for player, columbia is better, but the light blue has to be prepared to leave nothing to chance and no doubt about their ivy league championship bona fides. beating penn will leave columbia two tip offs away from a fantastic finish and wonderful post season challenges. be ready, allgamers.
d up and peace out,
paulie b
Good luck to the Lions team tonight. Beat Princeton!