Coming off a split with Brown and Yale, Columbia (14-13, 7-5 Ivy) continued its quest for its first over-.500 campaign since 1992-93. However, the eight win has proven to be elusive, and the Lions will have to continue their quest next weekend after a weekend split against Harvard and Dartmouth.
The Light Blue got off to horrific starts against both teams. In the matchup against the Crimson, Columbia was able to rebound from its subpar beginning because of the presence down low of Ben Nwachukwu and John Baumann and great perimeter defense.
After scoring the first two baskets of the game, Harvard went on a 17-0 run that stretched over roughly five minutes. During this run, Columbia went 0-for-7 from the field. Five of those misses were three-point attempts. When Nwachukwu re-entered the game for Asenso Ampim, the Lions responded with a run of their own.
Nwachukwu scored six straight points, and the Light Blue finished the half on a 21-6 run to take a two-point lead. The momentum that ended the first half clearly carried over into the second.
“Obviously, we came out real sluggish ... it’s basketball—some nights you come out firing, others you don’t,” Brett Loscalzo said. “I think it definitely showed the test of a true team—when you can’t shoot well, but you look to other things to win.”
Columbia continued to look to Nwachukwu and Baumann down low, while the team’s defensive intensity stepped up. Both of these factors allowed the Lions to race out to a decisive 61-54 win.
“I think the high-post play was really spectacular tonight,” Mack Montgomery said. “They combined for 38 points and 21 rebounds, and you can never complain about that. Ben played a lot of minutes tonight, and he really stepped up.”
Nwachukwu and Baumann shot a combined 18-for-32 in the game.
In the second half, Harvard shot a miserable 40.7 percent from the field, lowering its game total to 41.7 percent. What was most impressive, however, was how the Lions’ experience and maturity allowed them to grind out a game (and win) when they did not make a single three-pointer (0-for-12 in the contest).
“This team is a much different team than last year’s team,” coach Joe Jones said. “This is a much better defensive team. This is a team that can grind out wins—last year we had to outshoot you in order to win.”
The following night, after a senior tribute, Columbia was unable to come out strong against Dartmouth. After the Lions cut Dartmouth’s lead to 15-13 on a Nwachukwu layup with 5:48 to go in the half, the Big Green ended the half on a 14-1 run. This run appeared similar to the one Harvard had the night before.
“I tried to get them to focus on not being so emotional about playing their last game at Levien,” Jones said. “But I just can’t tell you why we didn’t play as capable as we able to.”
It was not necessarily the missed shots but the turnovers that cost the Light Blue its victory. Of the Lions’ nine possessions, four ended in turnovers—two of which resulted from plays by seldom-used Jason Miller. These possessions definitely hurt the Lions, as the Big Green got out to a 27-14 lead at half.
During the second half, Columbia came within seven points, with the score at 37-30, but Dartmouth again responded with a 13-3 run, essentially putting away the game.
The Lions’ downfall was their inability to defend against the Big Green. They came into Saturday night’s contest as one of the best defensive teams statistically in the Ivy League, but they allowed Dartmouth—which shot 32.2 percent in the first matchup— to shoot 48.9 percent from the field.
“Dartmouth really did a good job of spreading us out, and setting ball screens,” Jones remarked. “We allow opponents to shoot 41 percent, and they went out and shot 48 percent in our gym.”
With two games remaining and Cornell’s clinching of the Ivy League title on Saturday, the Lions must remain focused on winning their final two games if this wish to become one of the winningest classes in school history. To do so, Columbia must stick to its bread and butter—defense and interior offensive play.