Twice this past weekend the men’s basketball team trailed its opponent at the half. Twice the Lions (8-12, 2-4 Ivy) outscored their opponents in the second half. However, only once was this enough to win the game, as the Light Blue pulled off a come-from-behind victory over Brown on Friday night before falling to Yale on Saturday.
Friday’s contest against the Bears started slowly for the Lions, as Brown jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the first two-and-a-half minutes of play. Columbia did not score a field goal for the first four and a half minutes of play until junior forward Asenso Ampim netted a layup with 15:26 remaining in the half. The Light Blue was unable to erase the deficit by halftime, though, and the Bears went into the locker room with a 36-27 lead.
During the first half, Columbia made only 38.7 percent of its shots and went 1-8 from behind the arc. On the other hand, Brown shot an astounding 57.1 percent from the floor in the first half and sunk seven of its 13 3-pointers.
“I was amazed by how poorly we played defensively, just amazed,” head coach Joe Jones said of the first half. “We just weren’t playing well on either side of the ball, we weren’t sharing the ball, we weren’t playing defense.”
That all changed in the second half.
The Light Blue used solid play on both sides of the court to slowly chip away at the Bears’ lead, eventually tying the game with 6:14 left to play on an Ampim layup. The Lions would go on to close out the game with a 17-6 run, ensuring a 65-54 victory.
Columbia shot 50 percent the second half while Brown struggled with a shooting percentage of 25. The Bears have an especially difficult time shooting from 3-point territory, missing all four of their attempts in the second half.
Ampim, who finished the game with 17 points and six rebounds, attributed the comeback to Columbia’s second half perimeter defense.
“In the first half … we were doing a good job defending inside, but we weren’t defending well on the perimeter,” Ampim said. “At halftime our coach, you know, he emphasized us defending on the perimeter. We did that in the second half, and that changed the game.”
This was Ampim’s first game back after sitting out last weekend with an injury. His presence on both ends of the court was crucial to the Lions’ success.
“We wouldn’t have won this game without him,” Jones said of Ampim. “He means a great deal to this team … he’s terrific defensively, he gave us a lot when he was in there, he can really disrupt the offense because he’s so fast and strong.”
Sophomore guard Noruwa Agho also put up a terrific performance, earning his first collegiate double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Saturday’s game versus Yale (9-14, 3-3 Ivy) started much the same way, with the Bulldogs jumping out to a 15-4 lead in the first six minutes of play. Though Columbia cut Yale’s lead to only six with ten minutes left to play in the first stanza, the Bulldogs managed to expand their lead to 19 by the end of the half.
The Bulldogs were on fire offensively, shooting 54.8 percent from the floor, 50 percent from behind the arc, and 91.7 percent from the charity stripe. Columbia wasn’t as successful, shooting 42.3 percent form the field, 16.7 percent from long, and 54.5 percent from the free throw line.
For a while, it seemed as though the Light Blue might be able to pull off another come-from-behind victory, as the Lions cut Yale’s lead to 12 with 12:41 left to play. But the Lions’ offensive struggles continued, as they made only 27.6 percent of their field goals attempts.
Though Columbia outscored Yale 35-31 in the second half, it was not nearly enough to make the comeback, and the Lions lost 79-64.
“To be honest, they won the game in the first half,” Agho said after the game.
Not only did the Bulldogs outplay the Lions offensively, but they also dominated the boards, outrebounding Columbia 46-27. Both Agho and Jones attributed this 19-rebound difference to the team’s lack of fight.
“One of my teams hasn’t played like this in a long time,” Jones said. “We have to get back and really get to the point where we’re competing from the jump ball and we’re not doing it right now. We’ve played with much more pride than this in the past, and it’s disheartening because that’s not really how we built this program. We’ve been one of the tougher teams in the lead, we’ve competed, we’ve been one of the better defensive teams in this league, we’ve respected the game, and right now we’re not respecting the game. We’re expecting to win without putting the work in and not doing the job. 27-46 is unbelievable.”
Agho, who posted an impressive 30 points in the loss, also talked about the importance of really competing, especially on the team’s upcoming four-game road trip.
“We definitely have to play with some pride and just know that regardless of what happens that we have to play harder than our opponent because we’re not just losing, we’re getting crushed,” Agho said.
The Light Blue will get a chance to turn its season around when it travels to New Jersey on Friday to take on Princeton.