Captains Bulger, Foley, Scott close out home collegiate careers

After four years, this is it.

Senior tri-captains Pat Foley, Kevin Bulger, and Niko Scott will take the floor at Levien Gymnasium for the last time this weekend as Columbia plays host to Ivy League rivals Penn and Princeton.

Tonight, the Lions look to complete a season sweep of the Quakers after the two teams split the season series the last two years.

The next night is Senior Night, a tribute to one of the most decorated classes in Light Blue history. Head coach Joe Jones cannot say enough about his outgoing seniors.

“They’ve been unbelievable. They’ve been as important to this program as any seniors we’ve had,” he said. He referenced the Class of 2010’s pursuit of the record for wins by a class, a goal that is just out of reach now that they need five wins with only four left.

“You see how close they are to being one of the better classes we’ve had here at Columbia,” Jones said. “They’ve just meant so much.”

Talking about their leadership, Jones added, “They’ve epitomized what this program’s all about, how hard you need to work, the type of person you need to be, and the type of teammate you need to be. We’re going to miss those guys quite a bit. We’re going to miss those guys a lot.”

After a disappointing Ivy campaign has left them 3-7, Jones is optimistic that his Lions can regroup and send Foley, Bulger, and Scott out on a high note. Last weekend Columbia dropped a disappointing away decision to Dartmouth, 48-44, before the Light Blue succumbed to a talented Harvard team, 77-57.

The consecutive road losses had a significant effect on the squad’s morale, and after an extra day off on Monday, Columbia went back to work. Jones explained that the coaching staff has stressed the importance of finishing strong.

“For us, we’re playing for pride, we’re playing for our program, we’re playing for our seniors now,” Jones said.

The final episode in the Lions and Quakers home-and-away series promises to be an emotional, tense affair. In the first matchup, Columbia jumped out to an early lead, only to see Penn claw their way back into the game and even take the lead late in the second half.

Niko Scott’s career-high 29-point effort, combined with a laundry list of clutch plays down the stretch, helped the visitors pull out a coveted 66-62 league road win.

The emotions from victory contrast starkly with any lingering memories of last year’s contest in Levien, a 51-50 stunner decided by a jumper from Penn’s senior Kevin Egee—brother of current Columbia guard Steve Egee—from over 30 feet away.

In order to make sure Friday ends more like this year’s win than last year’s shocker, the Lions will have to take care of one of the league’s premier perimeter players, Penn’s Zack Rosen. Rosen had a tough outing in Philadelphia earlier this year as Bulger harassed him into a frustrating 11 points on 2—for—8 shooting. That does not mean Jones and his staff are underestimating the talented guard, who is averaging a team-best 17.6 points per game, good for a three-way tie for the league scoring lead.

“Kevin Bulger’s a great defender, and I thought he did a great job…but he [Rosen] is a terrific player, and he’s gotten better,” Jones said. “He’s the type of guy who lives in the gym—he’s a throwback kind of guy. We’re going to have our hands full. We just hope that he can contain him, because he’s really the key to their team. ”

The next night will be an emotional one for the Lions, as the fans get their last chance to see the Class of 2010 in action at home. On Saturday the Lions will get a chance to avenge a hard-fought loss in the Tigers’ Jadwin Gymnasium, a game Columbia led 27-24 at halftime before falling 55-45.

Foley, recently named the first Academic All-America in school history, had to watch that game and each of the last eight games of his senior year from the sideline after he separated his right shoulder against Cornell earlier this year.

Despite a tireless effort at rehabilitating the injury, he is unlikely to play this weekend. Jones hopes he will be able to get on the floor for at least a few plays in his last home weekend in Morningside Heights.

Columbia’s two healthy seniors will fittingly be called on to play a huge role in their last home game, especially in light of Foley’s probable absence. Bulger, the squad’s defensive ace, will likely match up against Douglas Davis or Dan Mavraides, Princeton’s talented backcourt players. On the other end, Bulger will be called on to create plays for his teammates and limit turnovers in his impromptu role as the team’s floor general.

The Light Blue hopes that Scott will be on the end of many of Bulger’s dishes. The three-point specialist ranks among Columbia’s top ten in career treys and has shown an ability to attack the basket.

If he can knock down shots from downtown and stretch Princeton’s famously stout defense, sophomore guard Noruwa Agho, the Lions’ leading scorer, should have more room to work in the lane and on the perimeter. In the first game against Princeton this season, Agho contributed a respectable 15 points but was forced to take 17 shots to reach that total. Agho’s struggles were largely the result of the play of Tiger defender Kareem Maddox, Princeton’s 6’8 sixth man.

Jones pointed out Maddox’s special ability to defend shorter guards and his combination of quickness and length that gives opposing players fits.

“He did a good job [against Agho]. He was able to use his size…he’s a terrific defender,” Jones said.

Columbia will need to improve its defending, particularly among the backcourt players. Other teams have gotten penetration into the lane too easily, explained Jones.

“We’ve been struggling defensively,” he said, adding, “I think our guards are really getting beat off the dribble quite a bit. We’ve got to do to a better job of defending individually, I think that’s the thing we’re struggling with the most.”

Such technique will be crucially important against a team with such a balanced attack. Mavraides and Davis can both score in bunches, as they average 12.0 and 12.8 points apiece. If they can get past their defenders and draw help off of other Tigers’ players, Princeton has the shooters to knock down open threes—including 6’7 forward Patrick Saunders, who is shooting better than 51 percent from beyond the arc this year.

Another key for Columbia will be the boards. Earlier this year against Penn, the Lions outrebounded the Quakers 28-22, and several key offensive rebounds from Asenso Ampim and Agho helped seal the victory. The Princeton game was the exact opposite, as Columbia was outrebounded 31-20.

In the end, Friday’s and Saturday’s games offer the Light Blue a chance to put their stamp on the 2009-2010 campaign, to send their seniors out winners, and to gather momentum heading into their last two games of the year the following weekend.