Gamecenter: Columbia 90, Harvard 70

1st 2nd Final
Columbia (11-8, 2-3 Ivy) 54 36 90
Harvard (9-10, 2-3 Ivy) 28 42 70
Lavietes Pavilion – Allston, MA Boxscore
 
Postgame audio
Columbia: Joe Jones | John Baumann | Patrick Foley & Niko Scott
Harvard: Frank Sullivan
 
Keys to the Game
Key sequence After Columbia decked Harvard at the opening bell by opening the game with a 14-3 run, the Crimson appeared to be getting back up on its feet, closing to within 14-8 on a Jim Goffredo three-pointer. However, Niko Scott answered with a three, then after a Brad Unger jumper, Patrick Foley drove through a distracted Harvard defense for a layup. Joe Bova drilled a three-pointer, then following a John Baumann charge, Justin Armstrong and Kevin Bulger hit back-to-back threes to complete a string of 13 unanswered points for the Lions, who suddenly held a commanding 30-10 lead.
Key sign it was over Columbia wrapped a 13-0 run around halftime, scoring the final seven points of the first half and the first six points of the second stanza. When Baumann converted a layup 2:16 into the second half, the Lions owned a commanding 60-28 lead.
Key performance On a night when a number of Lions turned in strong performances, Foley’s 13-point, five-assist evening stood out. The freshman point guard hit six of seven shots and added two rebounds and a steal in 17 minutes without a turnover.
Key statistic Columbia put on an incredible outside shooting display in the first half, attemping 13 three-pointers and connecting on 11 of them for an 84.6-percent success rate. Mack Montgomery was 1 of 3 from three, while the rest of the team was a perfect 10 of 10.
Notes

– Baumann led Columbia in scoring and tied for game high-scoring honors with 17 points in 18 minutes on 7-for-8 shooting.

– Goffredo was the high point man for Harvard with 17, but he shot just 5 of 14 overall and 3 of 9 from three on the evening.

– Unger took over Brian Cusworth’s starting job in the middle for the Crimson and enjoyed a nice shooting game, finishing with 16 points and hitting on six of nine from the field.

– Ben Nwachukwu had another quiet game with just seven points, five rebounds, and four turnovers, but the Columbia center did do a nice job of kicking it out to the perimeter for open three-pointers when Harvard collapsed on him.

– Defensive rebounding was problematic for both teams, as Columbia pulled down 42.9 percent of its own misses, while Harvard wasn’t far behind at 38.7 percent. However, the Lions owned a 17-7 edge in second-chance points.

– Harvard only committed three more turnovers (17) than Columbia (14), but the Lions outscored the Crimson 17-7 in points off turnovers.

– Four Harvard freshmen — Alek Blankenau, Darryl Finkton, Pat Magnarelli, and Ndubuisi Okereke — scored their first collegiate points. The highly regarded Magnarelli saw his first action of the season, logging 17 minutes, finishing with four points and four rebounds.

– Columbia will head up to Hanover to face Dartmouth (7-11, 2-3 Ivy) in a battle of 2-3 Ivy teams on Saturday, February 3, at 7:00 pm ET, while red-hot Cornell (11-8, 4-1 Ivy) comes calling on Harvard.

Jake Wilson

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Basketball U.

Jake Wilson wrote 754 posts

Post navigation


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>