Men Look to Extend Winning Streak to Five Against Seawolves

Just seven points have separated Columbia and Stony Brook during the past two seasons. Last season, it was Justin Armstrong's clutch three-pointer that propelled Columbia to a 55-54 victory, but two years ago, it was Mitchell Beauford and Bobby Santiago who hit desperation threes to give the Seawolves the 77-73 win.

On Saturday, expect another close contest. Columbia (4-1, 0-0 Ivy) enters Saturday's match on a four-game winning streak after its 90-63 victory over LIU on Tuesday. Inconsistency has plagued its opponent as the Seawolves (2-2) come off of an 11-point loss to Navy earlier this week, despite having already racked up victories over Penn State and Colgate.

The Seawolves are led by Beauford, a guard, who was a preseason all-America East selection. Despite standing just 5 feet 11 inches, Beauford is averaging just under 20 points a game. The redshirt junior is joined in the backcourt by fellow classmate Ricky Lucas, the team's leading scorer at over 20 points per game from the off-guard position.

"They [Stony Brook players] have two guards that score a ton of points," Columbia head coach Joe Jones said. "And we just have to defend. Our guys know that that's the key to us winning basketball games."

But the advantage in the frontcourt falls to the Lions. Columbia will look to attack the Seawolves' frontcourt behind juniors Ben Nwachukwu and John Baumann. Baumann should have a clear height advantage over his Stony Brook counterpart Mike Popoko, and his interior presence will be required against the Seawolves' three-guard set. Nwachukwu will also be counted on for his offensive production as the junior forward scored a career-high 25 points in Tuesday's game against Long Island University.

"He's really gotten a lot better," Jones said. "You know, he's in a groove right now. He's really just putting the ball into the basket. We're kind of playing off of him and John, and they're just doing a good job for us right now."

With the Seawolves' pressure defense forcing opponents to turn the ball over 17 times per game, the focus will also be on Columbia guards Brett Loscalzo, Patrick Foley, and Niko Scott to protect the basketball.

The Lions will counter with their increased depth this season. Jones' rotation is currently nine to 10 deep, while the Seawolves rotate a number of inexperienced freshman in and out off of their second team. Their starters average over 25 minutes per game.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Columbia's practice schedule will be slightly irregular this week. The players will have Wednesday off, but they will practice on both Thursday and Friday nights in preparation for the game against Stony Brook.