the columbia men’s basketball team lost the tip off saturday evening last but little else as they dominated cornell for a 75 – 61 win. that victory over a smaller, slower squad was the absolutely necessary beginning to their ivy league campaign. first year jack forest led the offense with 23 points, a performance that earned him ivy league rookie of the week honors. mike smith, the lions’ usual offensive catalyst tallied a substandard 15 points but handed out five assists and snatched 7 rebounds. that duo was aided most by junior tai bibbs who shook off a season long offensive funk and contributed 12 points. bibbs, who played all but two minutes of the contest, seemed much more comfortable attacking the rim than heretofore and also shot more effectively from outside (going 2 – 3 from beyond the arc). perhaps the most athletic lion, bibbs needs to continue to look for his points as it will relieve some of the defensive pressure aimed at the incandescent smith. the aforementioned trio was abetted by ike nweke who scored nine points as well as jake killingworth and joe smoyer who each added seven. randy brumant recorded the two other points scored by the light blue but was a defensive force inside, recording three blocks, two of which ignited exuberant full court attacks by his teammates. brumant was joined by messrs bibbs and smoyer (two blocks each) in making life difficult for the visiting big red. most inconvenienced of all their guests was cornell’s leading scorer, jim boeheim, who found himself harassed all evening by attentive, switching man to man coverage on the perimeter and double or even triple teams down in the paint. that effort yielded its greatest return over the last six minutes of the first half when the lions outscored the big red 19 – 6 and moved out to a 48 – 29 halftime advantage. the game was over, though both squads played the required additional 20 minutes.
that easy win sets up columbia’s visit to ithaca this coming saturday. based on the eye test in the first game, the lions should move to 2 – 0 in league play. they are a bit bigger and more athletic than cornell. over the last few years, however, this has been the kind of game that the light blue has played rather loosely on occasion. coach engles has to keep his charges focused during their trip. quite frankly, participation in the league post-season tournament depends on sweeping cornell and, later, dartmouth. we expect that engles has had this game circled on his calendar from the beginning of the season and hope he has adequately conveyed its urgency to the boys.
a win by the finger lakes will be especially helpful as the following weekend the lions make the perilous annual journey to southern new england. on january 31, they take on defending league champ yale. coach james jones bulldogs make a living on the backboards, a place where the lions need to do much better. center paul atkinson scores 16 points nightly while grabbing seven and a half rebounds. his front court partner, power forward jordan bruner, adds 13 points and nine and a half boards per game. their labors contribute mightily to the new havens’ heady ranking as the 43rd best rebounding squad nationally. point guard azar swain helps take some pressure off his taller teammates by tossing in 15 points each evening. this threesome will be well primed by coach jones to revenge the whipping columbia laid on them last march 2. the following night, our heroes head farther up the long island sound to battle brown. mike martin’s always combative crew is spearheaded by their point guard out of don bosco high, brandon anderson, who averages 19 ppg. anderson’s chief assistant is tamenang choh who currently averages 13 points and 8 rebounds nightly. choh has made tormenting columbia a cornerstone of his basketball career (averaging just over 16 points and 8 rebounds per game against the light blue). randy brumant and ike nweke will have to account for him out all game long if the lions expect to prevail.
these three road games are prelude to the killer p’s february visit to levien. penn arrives on friday the seventh. having lost its two games to princeton, the philadelphians find themselves in early ivy trouble and desperately in need of victories over arguably lesser teams. their best player, center a. j. brodeur is a matchup nightmare for the lions, capable of brutalizing them inside or stretching the defense with his jump shot. brodeur is likely to cause foul problems for columbia, so we expect nweke, brumant and smoyer will all have turns trying to slow his progress to the basket. don’t be surprised to see even seldom used first year forward emmanuel onuama thrown into the breach to battle the big quaker. princeton follows penn’s appearance with a saturday visit. the tigers struggled mightily during their non-conference schedule but mitch henderson’s crew righted itself for their two games against the quakers. they depend on the trio of ryan schwieger, jaelyn llewelyn and ricardo ariguzoh for the bulk of their points. princeton will test the lions on the perimeter more than any ivy team the lions have met over the first four weeks of league play. columbia owes the stripers some pay back as the boys from the jersey cornfields dropped them twice last season. a win devoutly to be wished.
that summarizes the lions first six league contests. we trust they will be no worse than 3 – 3 and fantasize that they will perhaps stand at 4 – 2. that giddy mark would leave them well prepared for the final month of a campaign that needs to end at the tournament in cambridge.
d up and peace out,
paulie b