it took three games of its 2021 – 22 schedule for the lions to notch their first basketball victory in forever. the win came against the 318th ranked div I team in the nation, the suny binghamton bearcats, so allgame doesn’t intend to book any final four reservations yet. still, after the utter misery of their last campaign and the joylessness of a year without columbia hoops, we embrace the victory – yea, we revel in it. finally we have reason to revisit a contest which has not left us whipped and forlorn. and, helpfully, the game featured a ferocious six minute light blue rally from 16 points down thanks to a variety of athletic feats by a fine young cast, simultaneously emphasizing what still needs be done before the crew enters the crucible of league combat.
playing from behind, unfortunately, has been this young team’s modus operandi to date. they fell behind fordham by twenty two before buckling down and rallying to lose by ten. marist led by as many as nine in the first half of their game against columbia, but the lions rallied within a point just two minutes into the second half. thence the air departed their balloons and they drifted down by as many as twenty two before finally falling by fifteen. the fall behind was quicker and deeper against binghamton. by the 14:06 mark, they trailed 17 – 4. those of us who had witnessed this self-same act twice already might have not unintelligently called their bookmaker to hedge what seemed another lost position. how foolish, though, we would have been. for this was a game of streaks, and columbia began its own three point barrage that knotted the game at 18 – 18 within three minutes. the teams traded shots till half time which showed a tie at 38 apiece.
until 17:19 showed on the game clock, the second half was even. at that unhappy moment, the lions chose to go into one of their five minute doldrums which culminated in the unimaginably accurate tyler bertram’s seventh three pointer of the contest which put binghamton up by sixteen, 65 – 49. five minutes later, still, young hakon hjalmarsson swished two free throws to keep the visitors’ lead at sixteen with 6:19 remaining. and then, readers, there ensued the liveliest half dozen minutes in recent lion history. zavian mclean beat his defender for a layup. next time down the court, the lions got two made free throws from the melodiously named geronimo rubio de la rosa. twenty seconds after that, noah robledo turned in one of the niftiest end to end performances of the evening, stealing the ball in front of the bearcat bench, dribbling up court and then tossing in a jumper from the right side of the paint, to cut the deficit to ten with five minutes and change remaining. the lions meanwhile off binghamton for another two minutes before rubio de la rosa stole the ball and found josh odunowo streaking for the rim. the guard’s pass hit young josh in full stride and was slammed home in a theatrical dunk. thirty seconds later, the 6′ 6″ odunowo grabbed a rebound and went back up for another two, leaving columbia down 69 – 63. at the 1:53 mark, zavian mclean drove for a second layup, made the shot and then cashed the ensuing free throw to bring the lions within three. just fifteen seconds later, odunowo grabbed another of the ten rebounds he’d corral on the evening and hit messr r dela r with the outlet. geronimo drove from the downtown side line towards the bucket where he spotted an undefended mclean in the northwest corner of the court. was there any doubt? nothing but net and the lions had tied it at 69 all with a minute and a half to play.
that was a 16 – 0 run by the lions down the stretch. in overtime, they continued to pour it on. racing by the now clearly gassed bearcats, they opened up a ten point lead with a minute and change remaining. this eleven minute explosion revealed columbia’s hitherto hidden strengths. their quick athleticism shows up best in full court play when they can turn defensive pressure into offensive opportunity. they can hit the boards – indeed they seemed most formidable rebounding when their four nominal bigs – patrick harding, robbie stankard, jake tavroff and liam murphy were on the bench. josh odunowo, in particular, is quick to the glass and, though undersized, defensively agile and gritty when playing the post. he also defends intelligently in the paint, maintaining his verticality rather than trying to dupe the officials into charging calls. robledo, jaden cooper, mclean and rubio de la rosa all compete on the glass as well and we believe a team wide concentration on rebounding will serve the lions well as the season progresses. since defense begins with limiting an opponent’s scoring opportunities, neutralizing other squads on the glass will be crucial to columbia’s ultimate defensive statistics. we should pause here to mention the only silver back columbian to play a key role in the win. luke bolster, a fifth year grad student, had the strongest score card not only of all the lions but all players producing a plus 24 point performance. indeed, once bolster took over responsibility for shadowing the incandescently hot tyler bertram, that bearcat went cold. how much of the shutout bolster pitched was his defensive prowess and how much was bertram’s shooting reverting toward a mean, one cannot say. that the binghamton junior guard shot 70% from beyond the arc against the 15% he had averaged in his first two contests indicates that he was probably done exceeding the analytics (as coaches say) by the time bolster took him in hand. nevertheless, bolster was instrumental to the lions’ full court pressure as they rallied to tie the game and helped lock down the bearcats in overtime with his work in the lions quickly switching man to man. that he drilled two treys in the first half and made his only two free throws were less important that his work in the defensive trenches is another indicator of the lions improving fortunes. the lions look to have a number of scorers and will need a defensive specialist. bolster’s continuing efforts will let the kids get the glory.
that recapitulation of luke’s play appropriately introduces a quick review of what this young squad needs to do moving forward: 1) they must make foul shots. the crappy 50% they managed against fordham directly translated into their losing margin. while they shot marginally better against the red foxes and their defeat stemmed from marist’s control of the backboards, they might have stuck more closely to their foes through the second half if they had given themselves a better chance from the foul line. against binghamton they shot 16 – 18 and that was absolutely crucial as the bearcats went 15 – 19. 2) they must defend for forty minutes. in their six and a half minute sprint to tie the game up, the lions played baseline to baseline defense. they pressured ball handlers in the back court, cut off passing lanes, reconnected to cover shooters in the half court and then attacked the boards en masse. that pressing defense led to victory. it is our strong belief at this early moment, not only in the season but in the history of this particular group of lion athletes, that they should press more frequently. they are learning their work-a-day switching man to man and we trust will continue to improve its execution but, one of the unavoidable defects of this scheme is that a patient offense will find an opportunity to force the defenders into an unpalatable choice – they will have to defend a roll to the basket or they will have to race to cover an open shooter on the three point arc. early on the lions have dropped to defend the basket and have been caught racing out to face the danger waiting on the perimeter. too often, that late cover has permitted the offense to deliver a dagger trey. rather than waiting for a death defying race over the final 300 seconds of a game, we would encourage coach engles to unleash the press earlier in the game, if necessary. led by messr bolster, the team seems ready to trap ball handlers against the sideline, cut off passing lanes cross court and with the talented josh odunowo waiting back in the lane capable of withstanding the occasional break away. 3) they still need a point guard. young rubio de la rosa has been tasked with most of the ball handling responsibility so far. that seems to both inhibit his own ability to take defenders off the dribble or to comfortably take his jump shot. he is clearly a shooting guard playing out of position. the devoutly to be wished return of eddie turner iii should repair this deformation of the offense. we trust the half court offense will become more fluid, continuous and effective with a true point on the job.
the last time we saw a columbia five win was in early february 2020. for the next six and half weeks of that dantesque season, the lions (except for the impeccable mike smith) could not toss a stone in an ocean much less hit a jump shot. a new era just might be taking shape on morningside heights with a young crew facilitating one another’s play. allgame, just three contests into the season, thinks it will be fun to watch them start to accumulate some wins. we trust coach engles will have them ready to play on saturday against div iii st vincent’s and that when they travel to stabler arena next tuesday, lehigh’s mountain hawks best be ready for a fight.
peace out, d up
paulie b
not too mealy mouthed a p.s. we hope – allgamenogossip has, much like the lions, struggled coming out of the gate this season. readers should have received emails from both our dauntless administrator, joan o’connell agresta as well as the editor himself, hipping them to the posting of our preseason screed and the difficulties attached thereto. we trust this will reach you all more quickly. thanks for your continued attention. go lions!