Ivy League Notebook
by Jay Pearlman
It’s All in the Family, as Joe Jones’ Lions Deal James Jones’ Elis Crippling Defeat
Coming into this penultimate weekend in the Ivy League, the focus was in fact on old Payne Whitney Gym in New Haven, home of James Jones’ second-place Yale Elis. One game behind Penn in the all-important loss column and with sights set on next Friday’s showdown at the Palestra (winning which could cause a one-game playoff), Yale needed to win both games this home weekend, and specifically beat Cornell and Ryan Wittman on Friday night.
Well, in what was expected to be the weekend’s big game in the conference, Yale did beat Cornell on Friday, 68-55, with Casey Hughes returning to play 26 minutes and score 18 points, Eric Flato matching that 18 in all 40 minutes, and even Sam Kaplan returning to play 9 minutes. Andrew Naeve’s stellar effort (14 points on 6-11 shoting, 10 boards) couldn’t overcome Wittman’s subpar night (9 points on 3-13 shooting, 5 boards), and on Saturday, everyone in the league was talking about Friday’s showdown in the Palestra.
Everyone, that is, except Joe Jones’ Lions.
What seems like eons ago (but is barely two months), this writer deemed Columbia’s talent second in the league to Penn’s, focusing on the additions of Niko Scott and particularly Patrick Foley to John Baumann, Brett Loscalzo, and projected Player of the Year candidate Ben Nwachukwu. Well, Big Ben has hardly had a Mark Zoller-type season (8.5 points, 5 rebounds per game), leading to Columbia’s 4-7 conference record after falling to Brown Friday. And with Foley ill and unavailable against Yale Saturday night, it was time to book hotel rooms in Philly next Friday.
Well, not quite.
In what turned out to be the biggest game in the conference all season long, finally we got a glimpse of that talent Columbia has. Finally, the team that would have pushed Penn, the team that can shoot, rebound and defend, the team with size and depth, played to its potential. That came with present star and future conference Player of the Year Foley absent.
In a one-sided win by the road team (and by the younger Jones brother), Columbia out-rebounded Yale 31-20, out-shot them 60 to 45 percent, had 22 assists to 10 turnovers, scored 15 straight points early to lead 15-5, and were never seriously challenged. Steady John Baumann scored 20 on 7-12 shooting and Big Ben finally showed his stuff on offense, scoring 14 on 7-7 shooting. Kevin Bulger scored 17 on 6-9 shooting, with 6 assists, while Mack Montgomery scored 10 with 5 rebounds, Loscalzo had 9 assists, and Joe Bova had 8 rebounds.
In a season in which Penn has consistently been underwhelming, including a lackluster showing in Friday’s 83-67 win at Harvard and barely surviving 80-78 Saturday at Dartmouth, Yale is now behind by two losses and all but eliminated from the race. Cancel your hotel rooms in Philly next weekend, because no matter what happens between Yale and Penn Friday night, Penn will still be up a loss, with only Brown at home and hapless Princeton away separating it from another crown.
So while Columbia’s Joe Jones targets .500 in conference and 16-12 overall with home games against Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend, James Jones must agonize over Saturday’s crippling home loss to his younger brother. With one win already against Penn, and a real shot down in Philly, the erstwhile showdown next Friday at the Palestra now will be just another game. A win over Penn would only show what might have been absent Saturday’s loss.
