for the second straight weekend, the columbia lion basketball squad lost a tough friday night game before demolishing an overmatched competitor that had just made the exhausting bus trip from ithaca to morningside heights. this week’s failure was against the princeton tigers; the victory was over penn’s quakers. that pair of battles ended the lions’ luxurious three week home stand, and they now set off on a two week tour of the new england provinces. before allgame goes dark for a couple of weeks, we offer a glimpse of their recently completed labors and an assessment of coach smith’s boys four weeks into the ivy campaign.
the vagaries of the ivy schedule leave the tigers and the quakers with one game in hand on the rest of the league through the entire ancient eight season. so it was a 2 -1 princeton squad that took on our 2 -2 lions. the biggest columbian – center cory osetkowski – was on the bench at tip off. as opposed to the brown game, though, the californian was in uniform. whether still sidelined by a thigh contusion suffered against yale or whether coach smith thought sophomore luke petrasek matched up better versus the tiger bigs, the lions were missing an important player. nevertheless, columbia jumped off to an early lead behind eight points from first year kyle castlin who flashed the inside toughness and three point range that we believe will produce ivy scoring titles as his career progresses. for now though, the georgia bred frosh remains a puzzle and sometimes disappears from the lion attack. he would score but another two points during the contest on a night his team needed more from him. castlin’s disappearing act was not the only problem the lions faced on offense. the usually solid isaac cohen turned the ball over twice while only dishing two assists, less than half his usual portion. jeff coby also gave the sphere away two times while messrs mccomber, osetkowski, lo as well as castlin also contributed give aways. this carelessness with the ball was matched by less than sharp passing when the lions managed to keep possession.
their offensive woes were overshadowed, however, by sluggish defense. osetkowski’s absence noticeably softened the lions’ interior. although the gocolumbialions.com website reports the tigers’ success stemmed from their three point accuracy (9-15 on the night). this seems less than exact, as the lions tossed in an equal number of treys and each team tallied 13 from the free throw line. allgame saw the difference as coming down low and the long distance barrage as consequent to the pressure exerted by princeton’s dribble drives. the tigers game long commitment to driving the ball kept the lions a half step back on the perimeter and created more open looks than they might have gotten with osetkowski, who managed but three minutes of play on the blocks in each half. a quick review of a series of tiger scores in the first half illustrates the situation. a hans brase three pointer was followed by a clay wilson layup berfore a pete miller layup preceded a wilson trey. the layup and three pointer that followed those four scores perfectly document princeton’s inside out efficiency. though down only two at the break, the lions fell steadily further behind as the second half wore on. luke petrasek’s three pointer at the 8:11 mark drew the light blue within ten (56 – 46), but they’d get no closer as the tigers’ ben hazel dominated the score card over the next three minutes beating columbia for three layups as well as drilling a trey and draining a free throw. paulie b cannot speak for the better than 1,800 in attendance, but the 74 – 62 loss did not feel that close.
friday’s disappointment evaporated in the giddiness of saturday’s romp. osetkowski was again on the bench at tip off, but came in just a bit under three minutes into the contest, when penn’s burly center, darien nelson-henry, was flexing his muscles. the lions led 3 -2 at that moment. over the subsequent eight minutes, the lions would race off to a 21 – 8 advantage. osetkowski took a seat until the 6:31 mark in the half with columbia holding a 29 -14 lead. his return paid off immediately and the lions effectively buried the quakers beneath a period ending 17 – 5 run. columbia led 46 – 19 at intermission. “warm up the bus,” as the well-dressed columbia band chanted. though we thought cory the difference maker in the game (11 points, 9 boards and 3 assists), he was hardly working alone. three other lions scored in double figures, three other lions recorded blocked shots and everyone shot well (57% from beyond the arc, 57% on two point field goals, 88% from the charity stripe). but, by our lights, with osetkowski dominating the glass and clogging the lane, everyone’s job got easier.
the upcoming saint valentine’s weekend will find the 3 -3 lions visiting cambridge and hanover – the longest bus trips of the season. last year tommy amaker’s cantabs laid the worst pasting of the league campaign on the boys at lavietes pavillion, decimating them 80 -47. the extent of that whipping surprised us as the lions had played the league champs so tenaciously at levien. only a debatable charging foul against alex rosenberg secured the crimson’s 88 – 84 double overtime win on columbia’s court. we expect the lions to acquit themselves more admirably during this visit to greater boston, but a win will be tough to grab. siyani chambers will bring quickness at the point sure to challenge the lion guards while wes saunders, reigning ivy league player of the year, presents match up problems both on the perimeter and inside where steve moundou-missi will also test the light blue . let us not forget, though, that harvard fell to a visiting dartmouth crew for the first time in forever as this season’s league schedule got under way. paying the crimson back for last season’s two losses would be sweet, but seems a tough task. though no sure thing, whipping paul cormier’s improving big green seems more probable. we have followed junior point guard malik gill since his days leading mount saint michael’s high school in the bronx to a couple of parochial school titles. his greatest contributions come on defense where his quick feet will make life tough for maodo lo. additionally, he is swiping the sphere three times a night. lion ball handlers will have to be alert. on offense, junior guard alex mitola leads dartmouth’s attack scoring 12.9 every night. historically, he has been even better against columbia, averaging 15.25 ppg during his career. his front court classmate, conor boehm, has been even tougher against the lions, scoring at a 16 ppg clip. gabas maldunas, big green’s big presence on the backboards, missed all of last season and the light blue will have to limit his rebounds. we trust coach smith’s crew will be rested enough to handle them both in what promises to be a very cold, very snowy, new hampshire.
those graduates of the college of musical knowledge in allgame’s audience recognize this post’s title as a way of saying that the 3 – 3 lions are stuck in the middle of the ivy pack. whether coach smith’s crew is under performing (the home losses to cornell and princeton really rankle) or over performing given the absence of doc rosenberg and grant mullins, i leave to more sinewy controversialists. i’ll only say that given the shape of the schedule (the next two weeks on the road and then a visit from the cantabs before a season ending swing south) going 4 – 4 down the stretch to finish at .500 will be difficult. a strong showing in the northeast quarter of the league’s territory is the necessary commencement.
peace out, d up
paulie b
Great post, Paulie
Wonderful and inspired.