misery

the columbia men’s basketball team traveled north two weeks ago and lost a heart stoppingly exciting game against Harvard, falling 98 – 96 in triple overtime, before continuing on to hanover, new hampshire where they managed perhaps their flattest performance of the season. the big green dropped them emphatically, 82 – 66.

returning to levien, the lions battled the southern New England ivies, and fell to Yale on friday and brown on saturday. the failure against the bulldogs followed a familiar pattern. columbia played well for the first ten minutes when Patrick tape continued his hot shooting inside and scored nine points to keep his crew tied at 20 – 20. picking up a soft second personal foul, the lion big man was removed from the line up by coach engles and over the final five minutes of the opening stanza, columbia went into one of its characteristic (of late)cold spells as the yalies went on a 10 – 5 run to craft a 35 – 25 halftime lead. out of the break, James jones’s crew continued its efficient play inside and out and moved to a sixteen point advantage with 10:12 left in the game when azar swain drained a trey. the lions suddenly emerged from their funk and, led by quinton adlesh’s eleven (of his 23) points, rallied furiously to tie the game at 62 all when gabe steffanini hit two free throws with 2:52 to play. that heroic fight back proved exhausting, though, and when alex copeland and miye one drilled jumpers forty five seconds apart, the rally was stalled and new haven’s best escaped with a 70 – 64 win.

the following night, columbia got off well and led mike martin’s brown squad by eight when maka ellis buried a jumper with just about ten minutes gone.  regardless of their relative quality, martin’s kids always manifest their coach’s combative temperament and the bruins quickly pulled within one on a triple and a layup by obi okolie and a layup and free throw by desmond cambridge.  the lions managed a short lead at the break, 27 -25. the second half was a back and forth affair with five lead changes and five ties, the last coming at 59 – 59.  the lions did most of their damage from three point range, going 10 – 23 from deep, while the visitors did theirs driving to the rim and from the foul line.  tamenang choh was  brown’s main threat.  the forward proved a bit too quick and strong for the lion front courters, getting to the rim for layups or to the free throw line, where he hit 10 -12.  overall brown enjoyed a 22 – 7 advantage at the charity stripe and though allgame would like to attribute columbia’s 65 – 63 loss to the credulous referees’s over responsiveness to coach martin’s endless whining complaints, we must admit that in truth, the final seven points from the free throw line were consequent to the lions’ need to foul every possession over the last minute.  the necessary, if water torture-y, tactic nearly worked, and the lions stayed alive but gabe steffanini’s last gasp trey, unlike his three pointer against harvard at the end of regulation, missed at the buzzer.

five weeks into the eight week long ivy league season, the lions stand uniquely last.  at 1 – 7, they trail the field and desperately need a win or three to vindicate the year’s practices and close run defeats.  allgame remains convinced that columbia is not good but hardly lousy.  no one in the league has looked way better, frankly. even imperial yale, leading the race at 7 – 1, seems less than terrific and could (should) have been had by our hapless heroes. the six remaining contests begin this friday at the palestra.  the quakers edged the light blue at levien three weeks ago, but are always very t0ugh in philly where the zebras love the hometown teams.  the lions will have to better handle a. j. brodeur than last time out if they hope to grab an upset.  saturday night, in princeton, we will be in our seats behind the lion bench at jadwin, alternately hurling abuse at the tigers and praying for a every lion shot to fall.  myles stephens poses the biggest challenge to columbia.  he is the same sort of inside presence that choh was for brown.  if the lions don’t limit him on the boards, they’re in for trouble.  devin cannady, the princeton senior who sat out the first game at levien consequent to some behavioral misdemeanor, is back in the line up and remains the tigers scoring leader at 18.2 ppg.  quinton adlesh, in particular, will have to be attentive to the no doubt fully rehabilitated princeton gunner on the perimeter if the lions are to have a real chance.  tall tasks all, for sure, but no time to quit on this campaign yet.

peace out and d up,

paulie b