having lost three straight div i contests by a total of four points, the columbia lions proceeded to lose their offensive leader mike smith to an injury in their blowout win over bryant. the smithless light blue followed that victory up with a nice 74 -71 defeat of iona at madison square garden. tonight they travel to chestnut hill in greater boston to take on the jesuitical eagles of boston college. some may remember last season’s visit to b c when the lions fell by 15 points in a game that saw our heroes shoot 2 (two1) free throws while their hosts were awarded 23. patrick tape undoubtedly remembers it. columbia’s big man played all of eight minutes before fouling out. we trust this game’s zebra trio will more justly administer the contest.
the 6 -2 eagles are led by their own version of mike smith, the 6′ 1″ ky bowman who tallies 19 points nightly while dishing 4 assists. unsatisfied with that work, bowman also grabs a heady 7 rebounds per game. his stat line last year against the lions gives a sense of the thorough damage he can inflict – 13 points, 6 assists, 2 blocks and, my god, 12 rebounds. with messr smith’s continuing absence, the columbia back court committee of gabe stefanini, quinton adlesh, jake killingsworth, maka ellis and c. j. davis will have to constrain bowman’s efforts. that will not be easy as his back court partners wynston tabbs and jordan chatman score 15 and 14 points respectively per game. this trio of guards is supported in its efforts primarily by forward steffon mitchell who grabs better than 9 boards nightly while dishing 2 assists and smacking 2 blocks per game. randy brumant, ike nweke and the aforementioned mr. tape will all have to get a body on that muscular eagle.
the team that will be looking for revenge up in chestnut hill is starting to play well. the improvement starts on the defensive end where they are working through an opponent’s entire possession and contesting shots. that effort resulted in holding Iona to 27.8% from the three point line. boston college’s three best scorers only average about 32% from the perimeter of an evening. get after them on the edge! of course, one reason the eagles don’t depend on the three is that they make a very nice living in the paint. as they did against the gaels, all the lions have to hit the backboards. jake killingsworth was particularly active in that regard, grabbing 7 rebounds to go with his team leading 14 points. patrick tape was right with him statistically, scoring 13 while snatching a team leading 8 boards. first year make ellis had his coming out party at the garden shooting 50% from the field on the way to 13 points. although only credited with 2 rebounds, ellis was a pest down low all afternoon and battled on the boards with the Iona bigs, causing turnovers and, delightfully, coming up with 4 steals. the nevadan was named to a couple of all ivy first year squads coming into the season and we look forward to his continued growth. with smith sidelined, gabe stefanini and quinton adlesh ran the point for most of the game with each guard handing out five assists while scoring 11 and 10 points respectively. c.j. davis also saw some minutes at the point running the offense competently and playing solid defense. slim, 6’7″ randy brumant actually started at the post and was aggressive looking for his shot early on when the lions raced out to a lead.
another quick start and contributions from all will keep the lions in the game against what is probably the strongest team they have faced to date. the acc foe is the first of three straight major conference opponents. ten days from now the boys travel down the garden state parkway to take on the big ten crew at rutgers and then they end their busy month out in Evanston against another big ten opponent at northwestern. this is a stretch of battles that should quickly season the lions for the commencement of ivy play in late january. ten days ago we were dubious about their chances in the ancient eight. ten days from now we hope to be more sanguine about league play. coach engles wants his team to “play fast.” with maka ellis joining the other shooters on the team and patrick tape getting help in the paint from brumant and nweke, the lions can start to fulfill the coach’s plans.
d up and peace out,
paulie b