but for one questionable whistle in the last moments of the first overtime of their memorable valentine’s day brawl against the cantabs, columbia’s hoopsters would be on a five game winning streak and getting ready for their biggest game of the ivy league season, a rematch in cambridge with tommy amaker’s crimson crew for a piece of first place in the ivies. as it is the game still has immense importance. had the jackass of a zebra who blew that call, remembered to actually wear his spectacles, harvard would be in first at 9 -2 while columbia would stand 8 – 3. now the lions not only have to do their part but siyani chambers & associates must also fall to brown and yale next weekend while the lions sweep the killer p’s at levien to claim a share of the league title. that melancholy, dubious, paulie b vaguely entertains such a possibility should give the allgame audience some idea of how well the lions are playing right now. let’s consider the thrilling and immensely heartening arc of the last three weeks.
on valentine’s day, the lions suited up to face the league champs of harvard. we had watched the lions whip the cantabs in last year’s levien dust up and thought them equal to an upset again. but, after a dizzying series of passes with just 6:38 left in the game, siyani chambers drilled a trey from the southwest corner of the floor and our hearts sank. the lions were down by 12. this squad, however, does not quit. as they had just before new year against st. john’s and just after against colgate, as they had seven days previous at jadwin gym against princeton, they rallied to one another and stormed back. alex “doc” rosenberg led the charge as he had all evening but he was supported importantly by maodo lo and, in fact, grant mullins and cory osetkowski sent home the layups that put the lions up by 66 – 64 with a minute fifteen to play. the visitors steve moundou-missi, who tallied 22 on the night managed to send home a tying put back with twenty seconds remaining and messr lo’s middle of the lane j rimmed out to send the squads to ot. in the first of two overtime periods, the teams traded 5 free throws and harvard’s laurent rivard duped the refs into calling a charge on rosenberg as he sank what should have been the game winner with two seconds to go. in the second o.t. that same rivard drilled a dagger trey with one minute to play and the 6 point lead it opened up was too much for even the dauntless (with 34 points on the night) rosenberg to overcome.
the following evening, the lions made short work of a shorthanded dartmouth team that had beaten them twice last season but that now lacked big man gabe maldunas and sophomore guard malik gil. they dropped paul cormier’s hanoverians 69 – 59, behind 22 points from maodo lo.
last weekend, coach smith recorded his first home exacta of an ivy campaign as his charges edged brown 70 – 68 when sean mcgonagill’s 30 footer off a sideline out fell short as time ran out. meiko lyles played hero nailing 5 of 5 from downtown while also hauling in nine rebounds, a stat he was matched in by the ever more valuable first year jeff coby. their efforts were assisted by an officiating crew that handed the blue nineteen free throws as compared to the mere six awarded the brown. allgame ain’t complainin’ especially since the celebration continued at a sunday matinee where the lions manhandled a then tied for the league lead yale, 62 -46. steve frankoski put on a nifty display of outside shooting and notched fourteen first half points, two of them on an absolutely gorgeous step back jumper. more important to the victory, though, we think was the tag team defense played on yale’s all league center, 6′ 8″ justin sears from bucolic plainfield, new jersey. the lanky eli had to contend with, at various times, 6′ 11″ cory “tree” osetkowski, 6′ 8″ zach en’wezoh and jeff coby as well as the absolutely mountainous first year conor voss, who spent most of his six minutes of pt posting sears up and then just leaning his 7′ 1″, 245 lb frame back into him. that stretch of unexpected weightlifting in the middle of the first half left sears gassed. columbia led by 7 at the end of the opening stanza and steadily pulled away in the second half on the way to a comfortable win.
last night, alex rosenberg offered another exercise for the record book. on his way to 31 points, the short hills, nj junior made 8 of 9 shots from the field and went 17 -17 from the charity stripe. the extravaganza from the free throw line set a league mark for perfection and made rosenberg one of only thirteen players to ever hit more than twelve free throws in a college game perfectly. his effort was such that some of his teammates could squander a few on the way to an 84 – 72 victory.
the lions are playing the best ball of their season right now and tonight we expect a defensive struggle at harvard. the smart money says columbia, in a road upset, 56 – 53.
d up, peace out,
paulie b