Lions Ride St. Francis Win to 6-1

They are missing a regular at the point guard position. They are about to take on Ivy League finals, an opponent whose difficulty many of their non-conference rivals cannot comprehend. Yet the Lions kept rolling Saturday, going on a 10-0 run in the final minutes to close out the St. Francis Terriers, 65-57. The Lions’ record now stands at 6-1, a record that the Light Blue have not seen the likes of since the days of legendary head coach Jack Rohan.

The Lions (6-1) and Terriers (2-4) began the game feeling out one another. Columbia jumped out to an early 21-13 lead, only to see the Terriers make a 12-3 run spurred by the defensive play of junior Tristan Smith, who had two quick steals in to key the run. The Lions and Terriers largely traded baskets for the remainder of the half, and the teams entered the locker room knotted in a 33-33 tie. Following the loss of ultra-quick first-year Kashif Sweet to injury in its previous game, Columbia was given a boost with the defense of fellow first-year point guard Brett Loscalzo, whose strong defensive showing in the first half gave the Lions the confidence that they would be able to handle dangerous Terrier guard Tory Cavalieri in the second half.

“Brett did a great job applying pressure up the floor,” senior Jeremiah Boswell said. “We knew [Cavalieri] would be a key to them and their game. Brett did a great job staying aggressive, staying ahead of him, and the rest was just the basics of the team defense.”

With head coach Joe Jones placing faith in Loscalzo and classmate Mack Montgomery in the second half, the second 20 minutes started to appear like the first. The Lions jumped out to a 48-41 lead with 14:00 remaining, thanks to a bout of quick offense from senior guard Allan MacQuarrie. The Terriers began to chip at the lead, and finally charged ahead when sophomore Allan Sheppard put back a Smith miss, giving St. Francis a 55-54 lead with 3:26 remaining.

A disconcerted Jones pulled aside his squad for what would prove to be a crucial 30-second time out.

“[Coach Jones] just said to stay strong with the ball, and try and be confident,” Loscalzo said. “Execute the plays and play defense. He didn’t say anything about starting a run, but we listened, and a lot of guys starting making big plays.”

No player would show up bigger down the stretch than Lions’ star senior forward Matt Preston. After a missed jumper from junior forward Dragutin Kravic, Preston followed with a putback to give the Lions a 56-55 lead. He then grabbed a rebound on the other side of the court from first-year Nick Jones’ missed three-pointer. The ensuing possession lead to a Montgomery jumper that pushed the Lion lead to three.

After another defensive stop by the Lions, Preston grabbed another Kravic miss and was fouled, sinking the resulting free throws to give the Lions a 60-55 lead that would not again be in question. With the squad of Loscalzo, Boswell, Montgomery, Kravic, and Preston on the floor, the Lions finished the Terriers off with no further issues, and came out with a second road win in as many trips.

Preston finished with another dominating effort, putting up game-highs of 16 points and nine rebounds, while Boswell added 12 and seven, and Kravic 11 and six for the Lions. Sheppard led St. Francis with 13, with junior Christian Brown finishing with 11 and Cavalieri 10.

Against a quick St. Francis team, the Lions went through most of the game with a perimeter-based lineup, starting guard/forward Montgomery in place of Ben Nwachukwu, who played for only four minutes. With Preston and Kravic manning the post for much of the game, Columbia was still able to achieve a positive rebounding margin (38-35), thanks in large part to the efforts of guards Boswell and junior Dalen Cuff, who combined for 12.

The revitalization of Boswell, in particular, has been an important part of the Lions’ early season triumphs. The senior guard is averaging 9.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists a game, respectively third, second, and second on the squad, while shooting a whopping .657 from the field, including .600 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“My shots are falling right now—I’m getting open looks,” he said. “A lot of people are doubling down on Matt [Preston], and he’s kicking it out; I’ve been to the foul line a couple of times—everyone is just playing well.”

Also heartening for Jones and the Lions has been the contribution of the first-year class to the team. Against the Terriers, Loscalzo and Montgomery (who is himself shooting 62 percent from the field) played career highs in minutes in Saturday’s game, scoring nine points apiece.

“I wasn’t surprised at all [by the way they’ve played],” Boswell said. “We knew that they had talent when they were coming in, and they’ve done nothing but prove that to us. It’s just the first time they’ve been there in public, but we’ve known this for a while.”

With the loss of Sweet for an unknown amount of time, there were concerns about the Lions’ susceptibility to dribble penetration, but Loscalzo’s ability to lock up Cavalieri gives the Lions a far more confident outlook.

“I knew [Cavalieri] was going to be a really good player,” Loscalzo said. “We had a lot of film on him, and I spent a lot of time preparing. The coaches really helped, and we guarded him as a team, and we were pretty psyched that we did a good job. He’s a great player, and we were just trying to contain him.”

Most impressive for the Lions was their ability to close out the game down the stretch, an aspect that had seemingly been missing from previous teams. Boswell, a veteran of those squads, is noticing the difference.

“We have more confidence now,” Boswell said. “We’ve learned how to win, and getting comfortable with the system now, and we know that we’ve put in the work, and we know how to finish a game in the last five minutes.”

With finals coming up, the Lions now have an 11 day hiatus until their next game, December 22 at Hofstra. Although the break seems to come at an inopportune time for a red-hot Columbia team, the Lions aren’t worried.

“First thing’s first, you have to be able to study, and you try and take a lot of the [layoff] to work on finals,” Loscalzo said. “At the same time, we’re going to be in the gym preparing every day, and it won’t be too big of a layoff.”