what we learned

three games into the ivy league schedule and the ultimate fate of the columbia lions hoopsters in conference play has started to take shape.  join allgame in a perusal of that still distant shore from the vantage point of the first two weekends in january.

it took only twenty seconds for the overzealous zebras to stick lukas meisner with his second personal foul back on january 12 in princeton. effectively absent their first front court option for the duration of the contest, the lions were in deep trouble quickly. three minutes in, they were down 8 – 0 and it really wouldn’t get to much better after that. the princetonians packed the paint and made it very difficult for mike smith or any other light blue baller to get to the rim. relying on their three point attack and hitting only 26% of those attempts, columbia worked assiduously on the defensive end to stay in the game.  those gallant efforts were final hopeless, however, as princeton worked patiently and steadily to increase the pressure during  their possessions until a crack opened for a back door cut or they reversed the ball for open looks from the three point line.  led by devin cannady’s 24 points, the tigers went wire to wire for a 72 – 56 win that was not that close.

the following night, columbia shot even worse from three point distance (24%) at the palestra but fought till the final minute against the penn quakers.  the lion big men did a terrific job on the offensive backboards, snagging fifteen on the night, resulting in  15 points on second chance attempts.  the light blue  also worked very hard again defensively.   their efforts in the paint and along the baseline, however, too often left penn forward a.j. brodeur open on the perimeter and he was unconscious in the first half, tallying 22 (of his game high 30).  his efforts during that first stanza included two three pointers in the final minute and  those dagger treys sent the hosts off the hardwood with a 33 – 28 halftime edge.  unfortunately, as happened a number of times during non-league play, the lions came out of the locker room flat as champagne on january second.  within three minutes they had dug themselves a 12 point hole.  from that low point, though, coach engle’s boys clawed their way back into the game. and pulled to within two, 71 – 69 with 49 seconds remaining thanks to a frantic minute of scoring by quinton adlesh, kyle castlin and mike smith (who scored 23 of his 27 points in the second half).  the quakers stopped the bleeding there and scored the game’s final six points on six free throws to escape with a 77 – 71 win.

that unsuccessful road trip behind them, the lions returned to levien gymnasium on the 20th to host the boys from ithaca.  the big red are a two trick pony whose offense essentially comes from but two ballers.  defending ivy scoring champ matt morgan is their back court option and he has been scoring 23.5 ppg.  their front court points come from 6′ 8″ forward stone gettings (cool name!) who contributes fifteen nightly.  the rest of coach brian earl’s crew shoots reluctantly.  although the lions have depended perhaps over much on guard mike smith for offense so far this season, they do play a number of athletes capable of scoring.  lukas meisner is primus amongst these pares and he dropped 19 on the big red.  aiding and abetting the face masked german were quinton adlesh and nate hickman, each with 14, first year gabe stefanini who added 11 and kyle castlin with 10 points on the night.  the reappearance of meisner and castlin are extremely encouraging as league play heats up.  they provide the stretch to the lion offense (scoring in the front court both inside and out) that should relieve some of the defensive pressure that has been wearing mike smith down.   this difference in depth on the offensive end was unleashed by the lions continued solid play at the defensive end.  coach earl played and coached at princeton and his crew runs the tigers’ offense.  the light blue was increasingly alert as the game went on forcing the big red to be ever finer with their passes on back door cuts while switching efficiently on shooters and denying the perimeter shots that both princeton and penn had made.  collectively they limited messr morgan to 20 points (and only 4 in the second period).  gettings only scored 8.  that minus eleven point difference from cornell’s big two usual contribution combined with the visitors’ lousy foul shooting (13 – 28) pretty much explains the 86 – 62 final score.

the biggest takeaway from the win is how important lukas meisner is to this team.  mike smith may be the most dynamic offensive option in jim engle’s arsenal, but meisner is the muscle.  his three point shooting stretched the cornell defense and created opportunities for everyone else on the perimeter.  his teammates didn’t fail him and cashed a team record tying 16 treys on the night.  when not shooting from deep, meisner works the backboard and baseline vigorously creating second chance opportunities or scoring down low.  most impressively, he is the cop on the beat for coach.  in huddles before opposition foul shots, he makes sure the team stays focused on its defensive responsibilities and isn’t shy about getting in other people’s faces.  his continued efforts will be needed this saturday high above cayuga’s waters when the lions finish the home and home versus cornell.  this is the first of several must wins looming for the lions.  to hand the big red their first league victory will undo the lions’ win.  no rest for the weary.  drop the ithacans and start preparing for harvard and dartmouth who roll into levien eight days hence for two vital and winnable games.  get to 4 – 2 in league and the light blue can start thinking about a weekend in philadelphia come march.

peace out and d up,

paulie b