back in business

at long last, allgame reports from the rectangular hardwood. readers have reached out, curious as to our whereabouts and the current state of the lions. the omicron variant has inflicted its perhaps most serious effects upon the ivy league basketball schedules. the final non-league games of late december were largely cancelled (including columbia’s contest against the hawks of university maryland, eastern shore on 12/28). more sadly, the first weekend of ancient eight play was at sixes and sevenses, as teams cited covid protocols for a series of postponements. the apparently unhygienic yale squad waved off the lions just as our heroes were about to embark for new haven. these facts having been stated, we admit that the struggles of this very young columbia crew had us somewhat disheartened. a win over a not very good maine team at levien and a close loss (60 – 59) to a not very good pack of great danes up at suny-albany, could not relieve our dismay at their apparently fixed habit of falling behind quickly and significantly in every contest. their 3 – 9 record at the new year was the worst non-league performance in the ivies and we achingly endured their inadequacies. in this regard, we have failed in perhaps our most sacred responsibility – the unflagging belief and announcement thereof, that the lions are ready to run and all lesser species best watch out.

that amends having been offered, we have buried our lede. columbia lost to the princeton tigers at jadwin gymnasium on january 7 by 84 – 69. on saturday, january 8, the lions outlasted the quakers of pennsylvania, 73 – 69, to record their first ivy league victory since january 2020. that fifty-fifty outcome reflected their best two game stretch of play this season and illuminates what sort of year likely awaits ivy league enthusiasts. at princeton, the light blue played well (exceptionally so, for the first half) against what seems to be the best of the league. at the palestra, coach engles’s crew held off steve donahue’s perhaps equally young franklins, leading from the tip off and enduring a frantically coached and played final three minutes before leaving philadelphia triumphant.

mitch henderson’s princeton team boasts an experienced, competent point guard in jaelin llewellyn (16.2 ppg and 42.1% from three point range) who is supported by three of the sharper three point shooters in the league – senior swing men drew friberg (7.9 ppg and 35.7% from three) and ethan wright (14.3 ppg, 40.7% from three) as well as junior guard ryan langborg (11 ppg and 40.9% from three). the abundance doesn’t end there as the stripers also feature perhaps the most efficient all round big man in the league – 6′ 8″ junior center tosan evbuomwan (14.6 ppg and 6 rebounds nightly). these individual stats should be enough to provide a sense of how daunting the lion task was last friday evening. consider, too, that princeton had comfortably dispatched marist, lafayette and university maryland, baltimore county – three teams which had dropped the lions by double digits. indeed, the last mentioned umbc five had buried the lions by thirty eight.

all of which was prologue to perhaps the lions’ best first half of the season. uncharacteristically, columbia jumped out to a 5 – 0 lead which they stretched to 22 -12 after xavier mclean completed a three point play with exactly 11:00 on the clock. when jeronimo rubio de la rosa threw in a running three pointer from just east of trenton at the first half buzzer, the lions led by 12 and allgame was remembering february 7, 2014 fondly. it was on that enhaloed night that columbia, behind the late heroics of isaac cohen and meiko lyles last won at jadwin, 53 – 52. this time, the light blue lead had been forged behind ike nweke’s 12 points and twenty minutes of attentive defense on the perimeter from whence the tigers failed to sink a single basket. additionally, lion center patrick harding – necessarily aided at moments by messr nweke and liam murphy – controlled the backboards and limited the effectiveness of the ferocious evbuomwan. the tigers are legit, however, and came out of the locker room resolved to defend their home court. three pointers from llewellyn and friberg preceded a pair of layups by evbuomwan and one each from langborg and wright. four minutes into the second period, the game was knotted at 47 – 47. though nweke continued to score (he would record 22 on the night), the lions defense started to falter a half step on the perimeter and the stripers sharpshooters began to zero in. those jump shots created opportunity for drives to the basket that resulted in a twelve point lead becoming a fifteen point deficit as play ended.

disappointed, but not disheartened, the lions soldiered on to the palestra, college basketball’s long standing temple. there, awaited the pennsylvania quakers having worn down cornell the night before, 79 – 65, and the brown bears, 77 – 73 on sunday january second. columbia picked up where they had ended the first half in princeton – controlling the backboards, defending the perimeter well and getting offensive production again from messr nweke and cameron shockley-okeke. the lions continued to shoot poorly from the free throw line, going 17 – 27. that still translated to a ten point edge at the charity stripe because the quakers only managed a 7 – 11 performance, another indicator of the lions’ newly discovered defensive cred. on the night, the lions additionally enjoyed a seventeen rebound advantage. how explain, then, the lions’ small, 73 – 69, margin of victory? part of the answer lies in the sixteen lion turnovers. note well, though, readers – those to’s were not merely the consequence of the light blue’s sloppiness. steve donahue’s crew plays solid, physical defense and alertly shuts off passing lanes, turning apparent assists for easy buckets into opportunities for scores at the other end of the floor. penn is not only alert, but resiliently persistent as well. when messr de la rosa completed a fast break with a lay up for an eight point columbia lead with 47 seconds remaining, the franklins quickly responded with a three point play by george smith and a clark slajchert jumper to close within three with 31 seconds to play. coach donahue didn’t take a break either, making twenty eight substitutions over the final 100 seconds of the game. it was the most thorough going exposition of rapid fire offensive for defensive changes that paulie b has ever seen. the never say die attitude was finally laid to rest by four free throws by liam murphy sandwiched round a pair by shockley-okeke.

thus, the lions await a visit from tommy amaker’s cantabs this saturday, sporting a 1 – 1 ivy record which puts them in a tie for third place with dartmouth, one game behind 2 – 0 princeton. columbia’s strength on the backboards, the emergence of nweke as an offensive force and the team’s improving defense all point to an opportunity to keep all season in a league that seems quite balanced. monday’s upcoming trip to cornell – always a draining one – will be an important test of the light blue’s emerging character as road warriors. the lions .500 beginning to the league campaign may very well be a bench mark to aim for this season as we expect most teams will have more than five defeats on their record. that being said, every win is precious and we trust coach engles has gotten a good week of practice out of our heroes. whatever the spread, we’re taking the lions.

d up, peace out,

paulie b