columbia’s basketball team entered the last two weeks of the ivy schedule with slim but real hopes for the ivy title or at least a solid second place finish. that all evaporated as tommy amaker’s harvard squad dealt them an utter ass whipping, 80 – 47. so thorough was the beating that it nearly erased our fond memory of the lions brutal double ot loss to the visiting cantabs back on valentine’s day. that narrow defeat, in a contest that featured an indomnitable alex rosenberg scoring a career high 34 points, filled allgame’s scribe with a false sense of the two teams’ equality. coach smith still has a few parts to add to the machine he is constructing on morningside before he can assume coach amaker’s position as primus inter pares in the ivies.
the lions returned from greater boston to whip a second rate penn squad that offered little but fran dougherty in terms of offense. a tony hicks trey from near the game announcer’s chair brought the quakers to within ten as the first half ended, but they had little hope of recovery and never threatened in the second stanza before bowing quietly, 74 – 55.
some hope remained for a second place finish, if enough chips fell where they needed, and sole possession of third was a strong possibility before the stripers from south jersey arrived in levien and dropped our heroes. most of the damage was done by princeton’s back court of clayton hall and perennial lion tormentor t. j. bray who back doored and rained triples on the blue to the tune of 41 combined points. without grant mullins, the lions simply did not have the defensive quickness up top to handle the tigers. the 64 – 54 loss represented a sweet payback for the tigers’ one point loss at jadwin back in early february.
ordinarily that would have been that for the 2013-2014 columbia men’s basketball season, but their 19 -12 record was deemed worthy of inclusion in the college insider.com tournament (hereafter, simply, the cit), a not so venerable post season dust up between mid major also rans. not quite the big dance, but the lions first post season appearance since ’69 – ’70. so it was that this past tuesday they flew out to the still snow covered fields of indiana to tangle with the crusaders of valparaiso. cory osetkowski tallied 21 points in his biggest outburst to date and put the boys in position to benefit from maodo lo’s buzzer beating deuce for the 58 – 56 win. they returned to morningside for, so far as i know, the first post-season contest ever at levien against the eastern michigan eagles who flew in from bucolic ypsilanti. the green clad visitors featured an active, syracuse style zone, probably the stingiest the lions have faced all season.
the lions were not stymied, however, during the early minutes of the contest. osetkowski opened the scoring with an easy layup off a nifty pass from rosenberg. columbia’s third tally came on a similar rosenberg assist to isaac cohen. this interior passing attack was balanced by a couple of treys from maodo lo and the lions soon stretched out to a nine point lead. we happy lions fans, however, were soon disabused of our sense that this would be a cruise control win. the eagles extended a bit more on the edges of the zone and started shutting off the passing lanes that were exploited early. just as importantly, the sharp shooting lo soon was whistled up for two quick personals that consigned him to the bench. the visitors were soon turning the lions over and behind their quick guard, raven lee, penetrating columbia’s defense. they rapidly climbed back into the battle. the first half ended in a 28 – 28 draw when lee drained two free throws leaving the raucous home crowd worriedly discussing the unpleasant possibilities for the second half. and indeed, the visitors made things sticky for a while as lee and forward glenn bryant refused to miss a shot. the eagles managed to craft a 51 – 45 lead before our heroes utterly took over the boards and began to hit crucial treys. steve frankoski, alex rosenberg and maodo lo, again, all contributed to the long distance bombardment. most crucially, cory osetkowski began to make some shots from the elbow and the hot shooting visitors finally started to miss a few during columbia’s 24 – 5 run. a jubilant crowd, unquestionably the noisiest of the season at levien, roared the lions home to a comfortable 69 -56 win.
that triumph has sent them on to a third round cit game at home, this one against the all too familiar bulldogs of yale. it will be the third tangle between these two squads, the previous contests having been split. columbia handily won the last dust up on a sunday afternoon in february at levien. both teams lacked a crucial player then. the lions were minus the still absent grant mullins while coach james jones had to make do without his best back court performer, javier duren. duren in back in the line up and columbia will have to slow him down as well as limiting his back court mate armani cotton while also containing the elis all league center, justin sears. the rubber match in this rivalry will leave the victor with heady hopes for next season’s conclusion being played in the ncaa tourney. allgame can’t wait for wednesday’s tip off of what we expect will be the year’s most intense battle. we’ll rap the 2013-2014 season with a post about the game and some reflections on the year’s highlights and many pleasures.
peace out and d up,
paulie b
Referring to Wednesday’s CIT Quarterfinal game against Yale you wrote, “we’ll rap the 2013-2014 season with a post about the game”
What about the semifinal and final games of the tournament on April 1st and 3rd? We expect you will be reporting on Columbia’s performance in those games as well.
Thanks for keeping the fire burning into late March.