It took some last-second heroics to push Columbia past Penn and Princeton the last time the Lions swept both schools in a weekend. This time around was less dramatic but the end result was the same, with the Light Blue trouncing the Quakers 74-58 on Friday night and pulling out a come-from-behind win against the Tigers, 58-53, on Saturday night.
Going into the weekend with one win in four Ivy League tries, the Lions (10-11, 3-3 Ivy) fought their way back to .500 in the conference behind tenacious defense and strong individual efforts from forward John Baumann and guards K.J. Matsui, Mack Montgomery, and Niko Scott.
It was Scott who set the tempo early against the Quakers (7-14, 2-2 Ivy) on Friday, scoring the first seven Columbia points on a three-pointer, a layup, and two foul shots to give the Lions an early 7-4 advantage. Although the game was close in the early going, Columbia never relinquished the lead, at one point leading Penn by 15 with three minutes left in the first half. The Quakers used a 6-0 run to pull within nine by halftime, and were within six after a free throw by Cameron Lewis. Columbia’s defense, however, clamped down, and the Lions rode the hot shooting of Scott and Matsui to a 15-point win.
Columbia shot an impressive 48 percent from the field against Penn, including 58 percent from beyond the arc, while holding the Quakers to just 34 percent from the floor in the second half.
Scott led all players with 19 points, while Matsui chipped in 17 points on five of eight shooting from the three-point line. Baumann, the second-leading scorer in the Ivy League, added 18 points. Brian Grandieri led Penn with 13 points, although the Quakers couldn’t overcome the loss of second-leading scorer Tyler Bernardini, who missed Friday’s game with a concussion suffered during the week’s practice.
“Our shooting was much better, and we have played much better,” Lions head coach Joe Jones said after the game. “In the last month, we’ve played particularly well, with the exception of the second Cornell game.”
Saturday night was more of a defensive struggle, and the first half saw little action offensively. Princeton (5-14, 2-2 Ivy) jumped out to a 10-5 lead, but a 12-2 run by Columbia, keyed by five points from Baumann, put the Lions ahead 17-12 with eight minutes left in the half. The two teams would combine for just 19 more points before halftime, and the Lions took a two-point lead into the break.
Princeton’s offense came out of the intermission fired up, with the Tigers, led by Lincoln Gunn and Kyle Koncz, hitting a barrage of threes to give Princeton a seven-point lead. The Lions chipped away, however, finally taking the lead back for good after Baumann dove for a loose ball and knocked it to point guard Brett Loscalzo, who found an open Matsui for a three-pointer with less than seven minutes to go.
After that, it was Montgomery who put the Lions on his back to seal the win, scoring all eight of his points in the last six minutes, including a coast-to-coast layup off of a steal by Scott that put Columbia up seven with 2:11 left. Princeton was forced to foul after that, and the Lions hit five of their last six free throw attempts to come out with the five-point win.
“Coach [Jones] always talks about making plays at the end of the game, and that’s what wins or loses a game,” Montgomery said. “Players win or lose the game, not coaches.”
In addition to his eight points, Montgomery led the Light Blue with seven rebounds. Columbia overcame an off-night by Baumann, with the senior making only three of eight shots and going just four for nine from the free throw line, finishing with 10 points. Gunn led all players with 17 points. Despite allowing the Tigers to shoot almost 50 percent in the second half, the Lions held on to the win thanks to strong shooting from outside, hitting eight of 14 three-point attempts in the game.
Next up for Columbia will be a northeast road trip to face the bottom two teams in the Ivy League in Dartmouth and Harvard. Play begins in Hanover on Friday night.