Columbia Outlasts Hofstra in Shootout

My family and I traveled up from South Carolina to Long Island starting Friday afternoon.   We got to Levittown, New York yesterday evening at 6:30 pm, just in time for me to spend a few bucks on a monthly Columbia Athletics - Ivy League Digital Network online streaming pass for my iPad.   I was looking forward to seeing Hofstra take on Columbia.

Columbia recently received a lot of well earned press for their showing at #1 Kentucky.   The Lions led a good part of that game until the Wildcats rallied in the second half for the 56-46 win.   But the game showed how good a team Columbia was, especially defensively.   The Lions held the Wildcats to thirty seven percent shooting from the field, including stifling Kentucky from beyond the arc, as Kentucky hit on only two of seventeen three point attempts.   The Kentucky game was typical of Columbia's defensive play, as they had only allowed one team to score more than sixty points in a game on the season, Loyola, heading into their game with Hofstra.

The Pride on the other hand, have been an offensive juggernaut this season.  They are averaging eighty one points per game, seventeenth in the nation.   Hofstra is especially deadly from three, with two players, Ameen Tanksley and Brian Bernardi, each shooting over forty nine percent from three.  The Pride shoot forty three percent from beyond the arc on the season.    

So it was the irresistible force meeting the immovable object at Francis Leven Gymnasium last evening, or so it seemed.   What happened was Columbia was willing to play along with Hofstra, especially one Lions' guard in particular.

From the start, the pace favored Hofstra. With not even five minutes gone by, both teams put up a lot of points quickly, with Dion Nesmith tying the game at nine by hitting all three free throws after he was fouled on a three point attempt.

As they did all night, Columbia moved the ball well on the Hofstra zone, especially early on as the Lions hit on six of their first eight three point attempts.  Steve Frankoski would hit three of those and Maodo Lo added two three pointers in the first eight minutes of the game.  Jeff Coby's three pointer made it 20-14 Columbia with a little over eleven minutes left in the half.

The Pride did a better job guarding the Lions on the three over the last ten minutes of the half as Columbia would miss on their last ten three point attempts in the half.   This allowed Hofstra to make a late 12-5 spurt in the half.  Brian Bernardi's three pointer put the Pride up 38-34 at the half.

Considering the Pride put up almost as many points in the first half as Bucknell did in an entire game in a loss against the Lions earlier this season (thirty nine), you would figure coach Kyle Smith told his team to slow down the pace in the second half.    

Nope, the pace was just fine for Columbia, especially for Lo in the second half.  

Lo came out gunning in the start of the second half, first burying a three, then hitting on a layup to give Columbia a 39-38 lead.    The Pride would take the lead back, as Juan'ya Green scored four straight points to give Hofstra a 44-41 lead. 

Columbia would respond with a 8-2 spurt.   Lo again led the way, getting an old fashioned three point play to put the Lions back in front 49-46.   But Tanksley, who is shooting fifty six percent from beyond the arc this season, would nail his only three pointer of the game to tie the contest at forty nine.

With the game tied at fifty one, the Lions went ahead on a Luke Petrasek layup.  Then Lo buried another three to extend the lead to five, 56-51.   The Pride would hang around over the next few minutes.  Niesmith's  layup cut the Columbia lead to three, 61-58 with a little less than eight and a half minutes left in the game.

The Lions would then go on a 12-5 spurt over the next nearly four minutes, with Lo leading the charge.  Lo would score the first eight points during that run, the final points coming on his seventh three pointer of the game to put the Lions up 69-61.   Petrasek would score the final four points of the spurt on a free throw and a three pointer to put Columbia up ten 73-63 with about four and a half minutes left.

Hofstra would rally, scoring the next eight straight points, the last six coming from Green on a three pointer and an old fashioned three pointer.  Green's foul shot on the three point play cut the Lions lead to two, 73-71 with 2:15 left.  

The Pride played terrific half court defense on the next Columbia possession forcing Lo in the corner to put up an errant three pointer off the side of the backboard as the shot clock expired.   But Hofstra failed to put a a body on Columbia's Kyle Castlin on the rebound.  The ball deflected off the backboard directly to Castlin who put back the rebound for an easy layup and the likely dagger in Hofstra's heart.  

Hofstra had three chances on their next possession to cut Columbia's lead to two or one, but failed to capitalize on the offensive rebounds,  which was a microcosm of the whole game.  On second chance points, Columbia outscored Hofstra 12-3 for the game.    

The Lions finally got the rebound and Castlin was fouled by Green, which was his fifth foul in the game. Castlin  hit both free throws to put Columbia up 77-71 with thirty eight seconds left.  A few seconds later, Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich, tired of the questionable officiating for both sides all night, finally had enough after a Bernardi foul, and got a technical.  Lo for one of the rare times all night, missed the free throw shot.  

The Pride did their best to keep it close, but in the end the Lions had the hard fought 82-77 win in which was a very entertaining game.

Lo was a thorn in the Pride's side all night.   After putting sixteen on Kentucky, the Lions' leading scorer on the season went off on Hofstra, scoring 29 points on 10 of 21 from the field, including 7 of 15 from beyond the arc.   The Lions went 13 for 35 on three point attempts. Frankoski added fourteen, including shooting four of nine from beyond the arc and Castlin added 13 points.

As they have all season, the  Pride again had balanced scoring, as four players scored in double figures.  Green led Hofstra with 19 points but he only shot 5 of 19 from the field.  Nesmith and Tanskley each had 18 and Malik Nichols added 10 points.  Bernardi added 8 points for Hofstra, who got 73 of their 77 points from their starters.  The Lions' bench outscored the Pride's bench 33-4.

What I got out of the game was the following;  As for the Lions, Columbia does a great job of guarding the three.  They held Hofstra to 8 of 24 from beyond the arc.   Green and Tanksley were a combined 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.    It does leave them susceptible to drives to the basket as Green and Tanskley did several times.   The Lions moved the ball very well on offense and Lo is a handful to guard.   

Columbia really misses though their leading scorer from last season,  Alex Rosenberg, out for the season due to injury.  They don't have an inside scoring presence to make up for him.   Even with their small lineup, Hofstra outscored Columbia 20-18 in the paint.   

Still, Kyle Smith has done a very nice job with this team, which definitely has talent, despite what some "basketball experts" say (https://twitter.com/jonrothstein/status/546486314838011904).   The Lions could not have played such a good game against Kentucky without having talented players.   Imagine if Smith had a healthy Rosenberg.

As for the Pride, they showed their offense is legit.  After holding Kentucky to 56 points, the Lions gave up 77 to Hofstra.  Their entire starting lineup nearly all scored in double figures.   They remind me of the 2006-07 Pride, in that they have outstanding guards in Green, Tanksley, Bernardi and Nesmith, all who started with Nichols being the lone forward.    What was also encouraging is, that after struggling for most of the year from the free throw line, the Pride shot 21 of 25 from the charity stripe.

What Hofstra needs to work on is their quickness in getting to shooters on zone defense.   Unlike the App State game, where Hofstra did a good job getting out to defend the three,  the Pride seemed to be a step slow guarding the three yesterday.   It seemed too packed in at times.    Also, Hofstra desperately needs to get an inside scoring presence.  It was great to see Moussa Kone back for the Pride yesterday.  But Rokas Gustys is still hurt and Andre Walker was nowhere to be found yesterday.  The Pride need some frontcourt presence on both defense and offense when they play the likes of Northeastern's Scott Eatherton later in the season in conference play.  

The next Hofstra game, I will get to see in person, on Tuesday vs. LaSalle.  It will be nice to be back at the Mack Center for what should be another good college basketball game.

It's Never Over Till It's Over (Recap of Manhattan vs. Iona)

Entering last night's game with Manhattan, Iona had been on a serious roll since their loss at Hofstra at the end of December.  The Gaels won three straight conference games by a combined total of seventy two points.  And I had seen two of the wins in person, the 95-59 dismantling of Siena at Madison Square Garden and a 73-61 win at home over Niagara.   They were looking to make it four straight with a win over the Jaspers and remain unbeaten in the MAAC.

Manhattan was coming off a big win themselves, a hard fought 53-51 win over Fairfield, the team considered by many to be the biggest challenger to Iona.  It was a much needed win for the Jaspers after losing two straight conference games.  But Manhattan has been playing well as their 10-7 record indicates.  I also saw them win impressively at Hofstra.  Now the Jaspers were facing their biggest challenge so far this MAAC season.

And the fans for both teams came out in droves to the Hynes Center to see the battle between the two New York City metro teams.   The game was sold out and near halftime, the PA announcer stated to the crowd that they must have their ticket stubs when they leave the gym, otherwise they were not allowed back in.  That actually is the case for all Iona games.  They just were making sure to tell the 4,125 fans in attendance that they were truly enforcing it last night due to the sell out.

As Matthew, my friend Tony and I made it into the gym right before the national anthem, I figured Steve Masiello's Manhattan team would be in its typical press defense, considering how Hofstra forced eighteen turnovers on Iona in the first half of their game.  But the always intrepid John Templon of Big Apple Buckets correctly predicted that the Jaspers might be better off playing half court defense.  And sure enough, the Jaspers settled in half court early in the game not risking a transition game with the Paul Westhead influenced Gaels.

However, Iona seemed prepared for Manhattan and came out firing from three.  Sean Armand decided to channel his record breaking performance at MSG by burying four three pointers in the first six and half plus minutes.  The Gaels were already up 19-7 with twelve and a half minutes left in the first half.

Iona was not done yet from long distance.  When Armand went to the bench, Kyle Smyth took his place and just picked up right where he left off  from beyond the arc.  Smyth canned three three pointers of his own and the Gaels were up 35-20 with three plus minutes left in the half.   The Gaels hit nine of sixteen three point attempts in the first half.

But the best part of the Gaels' offense is the conductor that runs it, one Scott Machado.  Machado is the rarest of birds, someone who is averaging a double double on the season with points and assists.  And last night, he was in top form.  If you watch Iona regularly, not a game goes by without the Machado alley oop pass to Glover for the dunk.  And sure enough not even five minutes in, Machado lob, Glover dunk.

However he was far from done.  There were eight other assists in the first half.  Most of Iona's three pointers were setup by Machado.  He also threw some sweet passes inside for layups.  The last basket of the half by Randy Dezourve was of course assisted by Machado, who had nine assists in the first twenty minutes alone.  The Gaels were up 39-22 at the half and seemed well on their way to another dominating victory.

The Jaspers couldn't contain the Gaels from the perimeter in the first half.  Nor could they score in the first twenty minutes.  Iona had effectively shutdown the Jaspers inside. George Beamon (eleven points) and Emmy Andujar (five points) combined for sixteen of Manhattan's twenty two points as the team shot only twenty eight percent from the field in the first half.

Manhattan decided in the second half to break out their press.  And immediately Iona, thanks to Machado, broke the press for an easy layup to put the Gaels up 46-29 with about seventeen and a half minutes left.  There didn't seem to be an answer to shutting down Iona.

The bright side for the Jaspers was that they were moving the ball around much more effectively in the second half.  They got the ball inside to Rhamel Brown for layups.  Manhattan was hanging in the game and actually had cut the lead back to twelve, 46-34.

Machado kept responding for Iona.  He continued to find open Gaels for baskets and the assists were piling up.  His fifteenth assist was a pass to Smyth for another three pointer that put Iona back up by seventeen, 65-48 with a little less than eight minutes left.  I turned to my friend Tony and said "Dagger", channeling the great Bill Raftery.  I thought the game was over.

But someone forgot to tell Manhattan that.  Their press was starting to throw the Gaels off.  Right after that Smyth three, the Jaspers went on a 10-0 run with help from Iona becoming passive on offense to cut the deficit to seven.  The score was 65-58 with five minutes left.  The Jaspers' fans in attendance for the first time all night started cheering. A Let's Go Jaspers chant was started, which got the Gaels fans in attendance to start a louder "I-O-N-A Iona Gaels!"  chant.   The Hynes Center was now really rocking.

Manhattan continued to chip away at the lead as they were getting Iona into foul trouble. Glover picked up his fourth foul and now had to be careful inside.  And the Jaspers took advantage as Brown and Andujar hit layups.  Then Brutus buried a three pointer and Machado picked up his fourth foul.  After Andujar hit his two free throws, the Iona lead was down to two, 69-67 with two minutes left and the tension was peaking.

Then the unthinkable happened.  Perhaps the best point guard in the country, Machado turned the ball over on the inbounds pass.  Michael Alvarado stole the ball from him and hit a layup.  The Manhattan fans went crazy.  In the span of six minutes, the Jaspers had gone on a 21-4 run and tied the game at sixty nine.

Iona called timeout to try to regroup.  But after the timeout, the Gaels seemed to have no clue how to get an open look on Manhattan's zone.  With only a couple of seconds left on the shot clock, Smyth forced a three pointer and Manhattan grabbed the rebound.  The Jaspers could have taken the lead but Beamon was called for an offensive foul.

Machado then drove the lane and missed a tear drop jumper.  His fancy tip in try missed but the ever present Glover was there for the offensive rebound and got hammered when trying the putback.  He went to the line but only hit one of two free throws to put Iona up 70-69 with thirty seconds left.

Manhattan now had a second chance to take the lead. Andujar missed a layup.  But Brown, who was so dominant down the stretch for the Jaspers with fifteen second half points, got the offensive rebound, hit the putback and was fouled.  Brown hit the free throw and the Jaspers had their first lead since the first thirty seconds of the game, 72-70 with eight seconds left.

Iona called timeout to setup a play to tie or win the game. With all the Iona fans on the edge of their seat, I am pretty sure the Gaels had not drawn up the prayer that Momo Jones hit with three seconds left.  The game was tied at seventy two and the Hynes Center was incredibly loud.

But instead of running out the clock and force overtime, Masiello wisely called timeout with 1.3 seconds left on the clock with the ball at midcourt.  My friend Tony turned to me and said "Great timeout".   The Jaspers had to either throw an alley oop pass or it was a quick catch and shoot.  Tim Cluess wisely put his tallest forward, Taaj Ridley out on the inbounds pass.  Manhattan barely got the ball into Andujar before five seconds was called.  He turned and with the Iona player directly in his face shot the ball from way beyond the three point line.

With everyone in the arena standing and watching the shot, the buzzer sounded.  The ball banked in to the net.

The Manhattan players rushed the court and mobbed Andjuar.  Outside of the screaming Jaspers' fans, the Gaels' fans were stunned in disbelief.  However, the game wasn't over yet, despite all the Manhattan players leaving the court.  The officials gathered at the scorers table to review the shot.  The Jaspers came back on the court as you could see Masiello apologizing profusely to one official for having sent his players in the locker room.

Iona fans were hoping that the shot went off after the clock hit zero. It took an usually long time to review the shot. I guess the officials wanted to make sure they were right.  And finally they made their decision.

The shot was good.  Ball game.

Manhattan had completed one of the most amazing comebacks I ever witnessed.  The Jaspers outscored the Gaels twenty seven to seven over the last nearly eight minutes of the game.  Beamon had twenty one points to lead Manhattan. Brown had a double double with seventeen points and eleven rebounds. And the man of the day, heck maybe the man of the season for Manhattan, Andjuar had fifteen points.

For the Gaels, Glover had eighteen points. Smyth and Armand each had twelve points, all on threes.  Finally, Machado had eight points and sixteen assists, but only one assist came in the last almost eight minutes of the game.

It might be the last time I ever say "Dagger" with eight minutes left in a basketball game. I now know better.  Yogi Berra was right. "It's never over till it's over."