Home at last

levien gymnasium has probably never looked warmer than it does right now to the dinged up, road weary, one win columbia hoopsters.  they have just completed a bataan death march through the middle atlantic losing six of seven contests.  they have lost to a terrific villanova squad,  a solid penn state five and then good teams in army, colgate, uconn and finally albany.  they battled heroically against the wildcats in philly, losing by fifteen to the nation’s fourth ranked team.  the boys trailed throughout before falling to a big nittany lion crew by fourteen.  a ten point loss to army preceded a closer fail at colgate where the lions fell behind by 22 in the first half before rallying furiously and closing to within three.  that was as good as it would get against the red raiders who prevailed 77-71.  the loss at uconn especially stung as the lions reversed their early season habit of playing from behind and managed to build a seventeen point edge at gampel pavillion before melting down and succumbing in ot 77 -73 to the huskies.  saturday evening they battled the great danes of albany in a highly entertaining dust up in the capitol district.  the first half featured two baskets covered with lids.  neither side could hit anything from outside.  fortunately the zebras were of a mind to let the boys play and few fouls were called when karate chops greeted an athlete brave enough to attack the rim.  lukas meisner, the most consistent columbian during these difficult first seven games, did a terrific job limiting the danes in the paint – defending vigorously and clearing the boards( he grabbed 11 rebounds on the night).  he punctuated his first half performance with a buzzer beating trey that brought the lions with three, 26 – 29, at the half.

that low scoring opening stanza was followed by an exuberant second half in which the hosts outscored the lions 57 – 56 to nail down their 86 – 82 win.  the lions managed to build a 10 point advantage by the twelve minute mark, but as had happened in storrs, could not hold on.  the albany gang tied it up with just under nine minutes remaining and the last eight and a half minutes were a back and forth affair.  the lions were led by mike smith, who hadn’t been able to buy a basket against uconn and went 1 – 7 in the first half saturday night.  the diminutive chicagoan went 7 – 11 (including 5 – 7 from belong the arc) in the high scoring second period to finish with a career best 27 points.  alas, he was  matched bucket for bucket by albany’s david nicholls  who also finished with 27 to lead his crew to victory.  with an albany defender draped over him, smith drained a trey with 48 seconds remaining and tied it at 79.  nicholls almost immediately answered with a three pointer of his own and though the lions closed within two with eleven seconds left on a jaron faulds tally,  the great danes closed it out at the foul line (where they enjoyed a 29 -18 edge in attempts for the evening).

so after playing from behind in their first four losses, the lions have lost from the front in their last two.  perhaps their long awaited return to morningside heights will yield a second win.  they are starting to realize the quality of some of their first years.  the aforementioned jaron faulds looks like a solid low post offensive player, moving easily and economically into position for his shots.  he also seems to be moving more efficiently on defense and should see increasing minutes as the season moves along.  along side the dependable meisner and sophomore patrick tape, faulds gives the lions a big, tough front court.  i would love to see all three kids on the floor at once, but coach engles has yet to go with this entire group.  additionally, gabe stefanini from bologna, italy by way of bergen catholic high, had his best game to date against albany, grabbing seven rebounds while scoring eleven points.  coach engles credited the lions’ second half offensive execution to stefanini’s work.  one shouldn’t overlook tai bibbs.   though he  is currently playing with a face mask, bibbs averages just about five ppg and has been filling in some of the scoring gap left by jake killingworth’s early season absence.

the quinnipiac bobcats have won only twice so far, but one of those wins was over dartmouth.  conversely, they fell to brown.  they are led by 6’9″ forward chaise daniels who averages 15 ppg and hauls in 5 rebounds nightly.  daniels is abetted by 6’6″ guard cameron young who chips in with 14 points and 6 rebounds per game.  the bobcat bench seems short with only nine ballers moving through coach baker dunleavy’s rotation.   were the lions at full strength, i don’t think the issue would be in doubt.  but kyle castlin has been sidelined since the season opener against villanova.  after spending his junior season rehabbing a broken foot, kc dinged an elbow against the wildcats and has been sitting since.  jake killingworth has also been hobbled and available in only two games.  their absence has cost the light blue some important options in their four close run losses.  completely healthy or not, next man up must  be the lions’ creed as they look to break the miserable schnied they find themselves on at the jump of the 2017 – 18 campaign.  quite frankly, a win over the bobcats won’t mean a heck of a lot, but another loss, this time on the heights, might point to some deeper issues for the light blue than just a lack of home cooking.

peace out and d up,

paulie b