A Last Hurrah For Columbia Seniors?

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At the very least, the Columbia men?s basketball team has a chance to end its season on a high note this weekend and finish with its first winning record since the ?92-?93 season, when it ended the year at 16-10.

After their big expectations of finishing near the top of the Ivy standings were quickly washed away by an eight-game losing streak, the Lions (12-13, 3-9 Ivy) enter the final weekend of the 2004-05 season with a chance to repeat last year?s season-ending sweep of Yale and Brown, albeit this time, on the road.

?I told the guys that February was a bad month for us,? Columbia head coach Joe Jones said, referring to the month in which the Lions did not win any of their eight games. ?We kind of look at this weekend as our own little March Madness?we?re gonna treat these two games like they?re the [NCAA] tournament.?

The Lions shouldn?t be lacking motivation against the two teams that sent them on their current eight-game skid. Yale (9-15, 5-6), as has been well-noted, is coached by Jones? older brother James, who now holds a 2-1 edge in the head-to-head series after the Bulldogs dominated the Lions 77-67 on Feb. 4 at Levien Gymnasium.

Meanwhile, Brown (10-15, 3-8) snatched victory from the hands of defeat at Levien, with senior guard Jason Forte?s 18-footer with 1.8 seconds remaining making the difference in a 54-52 Bears victory.

Thus, this weekend represents a chance for the Lions to accomplish several goals: a winning overall season (the Lions currently have a losing record for the first time all year), revenge for a home sweep at the hands of the southern New England schools and, perhaps most important, a chance to send the team?s six seniors off in winning fashion.

?I think these guys are very motivated?we have a chance for a winning season, which would be only the second for this program in the last 20 years,? Jones said. ?I think our guys felt like we let the seniors down this past weekend and didn?t get it done from them. We want those guys to walk off with a win. There?s a lot of motivation to go out the right way.?

One of those seniors, forward Matt Preston, will be looking to redeem last week?s disappointing weekend against Penn and Princeton. The co-captain, who was an All-Ivy second team selection last season, is averaging 14 points per game, good for fourth in the League. However, Preston had only 17 combined points last weekend against Penn and Princeton and fouled out of his final home game against the Quakers with 4:39 remaining.

Standing in the Lions? way, though, will be two other seniors looking to make their Ivy farewells in style: Forte and Yale guard Edwin Draughan. The seniors are the top two most prolific scorers in the Ivy League, with Forte dropping 17.8 points per game to Draughan?s 15.5.

?Both guys are capable of really hurting you,? Jones said. ?We have to find ways to contain them. When we played them last time, Edwin really killed us. I thought we did a good job on Jason until the end. We?re gonna do some things differently, mix up defenses, and try to contain these guys and keep them in front of us; make them take contested shots. They?re two guys who are able to make those shots?Edwin?s more of a playmaker while Jason?s more of a pure scorer. He makes it easier for guys around him to score.?

The Lions wrap up this long Ivy season by first visiting Brown in Providence on Friday night, and then they will travel to New Haven on Saturday to take on the Bulldogs.

 

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Frontcourt Gives Lions Edge Over Bears
Matchup Analysis: Columbia at Brown



Point Guards

Although he's had a disappointing senior season, Jason Forte is still one of the League's top playmakers. Having broken Columbia's hearts with his game-winning jumper at Levien, Forte will likely be the focus of Loscalzo and the team's defense.

Shooting Guards

Jeremiah Boswell is having the best season of his career. Shooting 50 percent from the field, Boswell has been a consistent secondary scoring option. Keenan Jeppesen is one of Glen Miller's developing freshmen with good size and athleticism.

Small Forwards

Mack Montgomery has slowed down in the Ivy season. Shooting just above 35 percent from the field in Ivy play, Montgomery has been most effective when driving the ball to the basket. Adolphe Coulibaly's biggest asset is his defensive play.

Power Forwards

Both undersized forwards, Matt Preston and Luke Ruscoe have contrasting styles. Preston is most effective beneath the basket, battling for position in the lane, while Ruscoe is generally a jumpshooter. Preston, however, is the better defender.

Centers

Ben Nwachukwu has raised the level of his play. Emerging as a rugged interior defender, Nwachukwu'Is offensive game is still a work in progress. Mark MacDonald has good size but is most comfortable on the perimeter.

Bench/Intangibles

Both teams come into this game struggling?Brown has lost six of their last seven games, while Columbia has lost their past eight. But both teams will look to translate potential final weekend success into offseason momentum to carry them forward.

 

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Brown hope to end season on a high note


The men's basketball team will close out the 2004-2005 season at home with three games in the next five days.

Tonight the Bears face Columbia, whom they defeated earlier this season on a last-second jumper by co-captain Jason Forte '05 for a 54-52 victory. On Saturday, Brown will play host to Cornell and will be looking for revenge after a 76-75 defeat that same weekend. Finally, on Tuesday Brown will entertain Yale to close out the season.

Tuesday's game also marks the end of a Brown career for Forte, the lone four-year member of the squad.

While the Ivy title is out of reach, Bruno is looking to gather some momentum for next year and send Forte off on a high note. Forte has been a part of 58 Bears victories over his four years, second only to the Class of 2004's 63 wins. Unfortunately, the Bears have struggled at the Pizzitola Center of late - they have not won a home game since a Dec. 8 triumph over the University of New Hampshire.

Forte has not experienced the type of struggles over his career that he has faced this season, but he has refused to let the recent problems put a damper on what appears to be a promising weekend.

"It's definitely a disappointment to not be contending this final year, but I don't hold a grudge ... that we didn't accomplish all that we set out to," Forte said. "I think as a player, you're always looking for a chance to go to the tournament, but that really doesn't matter as much as you think."

Despite never winning an Ivy League title, Forte's career at Brown has been full of success - the program has become an annual contender in the Ivy League. Winning an Ivy title is extremely difficult, as unlike in every other Division I conference, there is no year-end tournament in which a three- or four-game win streak can claim a championship and a guaranteed NCAA Tournament bid. Forte is more than pleased with his time in Providence.

"Looking back on my career, I know one thing for sure and that's that I definitely made the right decision in choosing Brown University, for both the academic reasons and the athletic ones," he said.

For the Bears to send Forte out a winner, they will need to rediscover their shooting touch. The Bears have struggled recently with their offensive consistency. Last weekend, the Bears shot only 33 percent from the floor against Harvard and were forced to play from behind the entire game.

The Bears have been working extra hard in practice to right the ship.

"We've been concentrating on skills in practice recently," Forte said. "We needed to go back to the basics, because we have gotten away from them a little. At times you can take the fundamentals for granted, but we've been having good practices lately."

Brown will find out if the renewed focus on the little things will pay off on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Center.