Lions Cannot Keep Up With Big Red

Spiraling into a 10-0 deficit in the first six minutes of Saturday night’s game might not have been immediately worrisome for Columbia. After all, when they last played Cornell a week ago, the Lions had jumped out to a 12-2 lead and still managed to lose.

But on that night, Cornell found an 11-0 run to close out the first half. Shooting a scant 23.8 percent from the field in the first half on Saturday night, Columbia was nowhere near a similar comeback.

What flashes of inspiration the Lions did show were invariably matched by an organized, physical Big Red side on its way to a 72-54 victory and sole possession of first place in the Ivy League.

“Cornell came out and really played with a level of aggression from the start,” head coach Joe Jones said. “They outhustled us, they got the loose balls, they outworked us, and I thought that was clear early in the game.”

Earlier in the day, Brown had defeated Yale 77-68, which meant that a Lions win would have put them in a four-way tie for the top spot with a record of 1-1. Columbia’s shooting early on, though, made it clear that it was not in the cards. The Lions only managed a single two-point field goal in the first 20 minutes.

Jones switched Columbia into a full-court press in an effort to stem the tide from Cornell and, briefly, it seemed to work. Still, offensive production was lacking, as the Big Red converged on John Baumann—who has led the Lions in scoring for the past two seasons—on every drive. He was held to 6 points, all from the free-throw line.

“They didn’t let us get anything easy inside,” Baumann said. “And what makes this team so good is that you can get one of their big guys in foul trouble, and they don’t really lose anything when they bring another one off the bench.”

At the other end, Cornell’s backcourt tandem was carving up the Columbia defense, with efficient guard play by junior Adam Gore, who led all scorers with 17 points, and the blistering speed of sophomore Louis Dale. As Ryan Wittman quietly made his presence felt in the paint—he had 16 points on the night—the Big Red took a 40-22 lead into the locker room.

Columbia freshman Asenso Ampim’s sensational left-handed block in the last minute did little more than rally the crowd.

Back-to-back three-pointers from K.J. Matsui and Brett Loscalzo to open the second period gave Columbia a little bit of momentum, closing the deficit to 14 points. That marked the beginning of a real turnaround in the Lions’ shooting, as they improved to 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from the field. For Baumann, however, the night never got any easier. Cornell continued to press the game’s tempo, and he was unable to add to his disappointing tally.

“We tried to play with the same intensity in the second half, and we swarmed them pretty well,” Wittman said.

Hitting three shots from beyond the arc in addition to a single two-point field goal, senior point guard Loscalzo was the only Columbia player to crack double digits.
The score for the second half was 32-32, but by then, the damage had already been done. Let down by shooting and, just as important, their performance under the boards—Columbia was outrebounded 41-27—the Lions never established a rhythm or any physical edge.

“We made some great hustle plays, and we’ve been doing that for about a month,” Cornell head coach Steve Donahue said. “Those plays win basketball games in our league.

While the Big Red, boasting the only 2-0 record in the Ivies, is living up to its billing as the preseason favorite for the championship, Columbia shoulders a 0-2 mark ahead of another difficult pair of games. Next weekend, the Lions will travel to Yale and Brown, two solid contenders with good chances of finishing in the top half of the standings.

But no matter who it has to face next week after its rocky opening fortnight, Columbia will certainly be happy to see the back of Cornell.