the lions play santa two weeks early

there have been two big stories during the 2023 – 24 non-league portion of the ivy league basketball season. first has been the heralded 10 – 1 start by the princeton men’s five. led by sophomores xian lee and caden pierce and senior matt alloco, the tigers have have roared into the season subsequent to their sweet sixteen appearance last march without missing a beat. although messr pierce has been my favorite ancient eight hoopster for awhile, allgame was certain the south jersey ballers would necessarily experience a drop in efficiency as they had graduated the team’s two best big men, tosan evbuomwan and keeshawn kellman. flabbergasting this observer (and a good many others, we expect), mitch henderson’s crew did not lose a game till this week when they traveled to philadelphia and were mugged by the zebras watching the contest. the st. joe’s home team were awarded ten more free throws than the stripers and managed to win, 74 – 70. the other, even more improbable, ivy bball feel good story of the season to date has been the solid play of our spectacularly improved columbia lions. as coach engles returned 12 players from last season’s 7 – 22 team, the light blue were a consensus choice for dead last in league play. not a single shot has been fired in league play yet, but allgame is already convinced, barring injury, this version of the lions will be battling for one of the four spots in the post-season league tourney. as that event is scheduled to be played at our own beloved levien gymnasium this coming march, we believe that we will bear witness to a special season up on morningside.

why this thusness: the columbia squad has begun its december break and will not play again until the 30th of the month at fordham’s venerable rose hill gymnasium. they enter this quiet stretch boasting an 8 – 3 record. they have been 7 – 1 since november eleventh. they have thus already surpassed last season’s entire win total. their last victory, over fairleigh dickinson university at the knights’ hackensack arena illustrated their most encouraging qualities. they scored in the paint and from beyond the three point arc. they played tenaciously effective switching man to man defense for the first half. so staunch were their efforts that fdu’s best scorer, the powerfully built 6′ 5″ ansley almonor (16.6 ppg) did not blemish the scorecard until the 9:00 mark of the first stanza. when their hosts began to solve columbia’s defensive riddles early in the second half, coach engles sent them into a 1 – 3 – 1 zone. the change rattled the knights for the next 15 minutes and allowed the lions to retake a lead they had squandered late in the first half. allgame was impressed by how well the light blue rebounded in the zone, yielding no second shots for long stretches. it is uplifting to remember that this display was put on against the (for the moment) number one scoring offense in the country. our enthusiasm about the lion defense notwithstanding, fdu did not give up their attack. after columbia took an 82-75 lead with 2:33 left to play on two free throws by avery brown, the lion faithful may be forgiven a sense of “game’s in the bag.” those tosses by brown were not the coups de graces, however. less than ten seconds later, fairleigh dickinson’s senior joe munden, jr. drained a three pointer bringing the knights within four points. after the lions blew a five on four opportunity, munden found the bottom of the net from beyond the arc to bring his team within one with 1:38 still on the clock. when the oft mentioned avery brown turned the ball over on a drive down the right side of the lane, fairleigh dickinson quickly found ashley almonor (who did hang 27 on the lions after his first half drought) alone in the paint for a gimme lay in and the lead at 83 – 82 with 00:54 left to play. seconds later, fortunately, a reach in foul by fdu sent avery brown back to the charity stripe. two swishes put the lions back on top again at 84 -83. thirty seconds later, messr brown left no doubt about the outcome with a gorgeous running left handed bank in the lane. a final free throw with no time remaining, by geronimo rubio de la rosa, determined the final winning score for the lions, 87 – 83.

additional historical context to buttress our optimism: last december, these same fdu knights visited levien gymnasium. then and there, a less mature and physically daintier lion squad refused to back down to the visitors. as he did on monday evening past when he scored 16, avery brown led the light blue in points, tallying 17. none were more important in that game last season than the two that came on a running jumper in the paint to knot the game at 68 all with only ten seconds to play. in overtime, the knights jumped out to an early lead on a three pointer by joe munden, jr. – the self same sharpshooter who galvanized fdu’s frantic but failed late run in the game played this past monday. though the young lions never lost contact with their guests last december, neither could they ever quite catch them, falling 76 – 73. let’s remember that this was a less competent columbia crew and that the 2022 -23 fairleigh dickinson squad would earn a 16 seed as one of the “first four” in last spring’s ncaa tournament. there they scorched texas southern 84 – 61 in the play in round before upsetting (and humiliating) number one seed purdue, 63 -58. that was only the second time in tourney history that a #16 seed had tumbled a #1. sure the new jerseyans were promptly dropped by a surging florida atlantic five, but they had established their legit toughness. in retrospect, we ask, how far really was that lesser columbia team from a power like purdue? we hear the smirkers answering “30 points,” but the question deserves being asked.

man crushes of the moment to make some additional points: avery brown, the undoubted star of the battle with fairleigh dickinson, is a tough, quick floor leader. a powerfully built 6′ 4″, he repeatedly stepped through fdu’s frequent double teams to find open teammates. his teammates emulate his willingness to share the ball. they look for each other around the perimeter or drop the orb into the paint, knowing that it will be kicked back out to an available teammate. junior shooting guard geronimo rubio de la rosa seems to have welcomed the contributions of his maturing team. he needn’t be on the floor 35 minutes or more nightly. the additional rest he is receiving is reflected in his improved second half performances. his three pointers are falling late and should de la rosa need to get to the glass, he’s got the necessary energy to finish. de la rosa’s classmate, forward noah robledo has grown increasingly confident in his own three point shot, going 5 – 7 from deep against fdu. he’s 6′ 6″ with the wing span of someone three inches taller. that length makes him a pest in the paint and he regularly keeps rebounds in play with a timely tap. also helping inside and out is 6′ 4″ guard jaden cooper who has outstanding hops. at least three times against the knights he beat taller opponents to the glass and prevented easy put backs or started the lion transition to offense. for the moment, coach engles is rotating a two headed center – 6′ 10″ sophomore zine beddri and 6′ 6″ senior josh odunowo. they await the full recuperation of 6′ 9″ soph jake tavroff. once tavroff is fit, the duet will become a trio. all three of these number fives have put on some muscle and refined their footwork since last year. they stabilize the lion defense in the paint and offer more reliable offense than before. beddri has already hit 3 – 8 treys for a not too shabby .375% from the arc. odunowo does his best work down low and he was at his very best on december 11 going 7 – 7 from the field. tavroff is a more efficient passer than scorer, but improving in the paint. also contributing inside is 6′ 9″ blair thompson, who is leading the squad in rebounding by grabbing 6.2 boards nightly. his work in the paint is amplified by his effectiveness from the three point arc to these eight returning ballers we must add senior guard zavian mclean. the north carolinian is averaging 6.9 ppg on a .537 shooting percentage – second best on the team. he is also converting his free throws at a .842 clip. since much of his offensive work occurs in the paint and along the base line, he regularly gets to finish the job at the charity stripe. a new comer to our top ten is 6′ 11″, 185 lb first year out of dallas, arop arop – he of the doubled name. we missed his best performance to date, against div iii suny – delhi, when he scored ten points, grabbed three rebounds and offset his one turnover with a steal and a block.

resembling a human swizzle stick, arop clearly needs to spend some time at the training table and in the weight room, but he clearly has some basic basketball skills infrequently seen in men his height. twice against fdu, he rotated through a set until he received a pass to the left of the top of the key. clearly a player who knows there is no time like the present, he immediately took two dribbles and two long strides to the rim, once to miss a layup and once to drop a nifty pass into the hands of zine beddri (who missed the layup). at the 9:48 mark of the second half, he motioned two of his teammates away from a spot on the three point stripe he coveted and promptly drained a trey. nor could one overlook his defensive work. in the first half, when the lions were playing their switching man to man, arop found himself matched up with fdu’s 5′ 8″ point guard, devante jamison. these moments are frequently times of hilarity on the court as the smaller player flabbergasts the bigger man with his footwork and quickness. on monday, arop was unimpressed and comfortably cut off jamison’s drive before tying the ball up. when the light blue went to the 1 – 3 – 1 zone in the second stanza, arop was on top the defense, moving competently to cut off any three point shots and adroitly dropping into the paint to double any knight who got to the middle of the zone. the world of college hoops being what it is today, we fear young messr arop may betake himself to the transfer portal in a couple of years.

we are literally exhausted by our exuberance and yet to be fully tested high hopes for the current columbia crew. coach engles has weathered the growing pains of a young squad and the unhappiness of the fan base for a few seasons now and may rightly enjoy, for the moment, the harvest of his effort. only fordham and div iii mount saint vincent remain before the crucible of ivy play begins. and the lions will find themselves immediately tested with two of the toughest road games of the year – first to bucolic, but distant, ithaca where brian earl’s high octane squad can’t wait to start their fast break attack on another berth in the ivy tournament. a week later the boys will find themselves in the close, ancient atmosphere of newman arena at yale where coach james jones’s gang dishes up a variety of defense more appropriate to the wrestling mat than the hardwood. the elis gave princeton a fight before falling in last year’s league tourney and consider themselves the ivy’s finest program. they also owe the lions payback for a loss at levien late last december. we hope for a couple of brawls and, whatever the results, verification that these lions are legit.

d up and peace out,

paulie b

ps – although the columbia radio station, wkcr, no longer broadcasts lions mens’ basketball games, nor football games, for that matter, it is well worth listening to from december 24 through december 31 when it plays j. s. bach all the time. the station used to boast that it played every note of the master’s work, but has given up that braggadocio. maybe not every note, then, but plenty enough to enjoy. 89.9 on the fm dial and www.wkcr.org on the world wide web.