9 December, 2007
by Jake Wilson
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Lafayette (6-3) |
35 |
43 |
78 |
| Columbia (3-6) |
23 |
41 |
64 |
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
A tight contest became a blowout when Lafayette scored 13 of the final 17 points of the first half, then opened the second stanza with eight unanswered points. It was a three-point until Paul Cummins put the Leopards up six with a three-pointer at the 3:29 mark of the first half. Marek Koltun got inside for a layup the next trip down the floor, and following a Justin Amstrong bucket, Koltun but back Michael Gruner’s miss. Gruner then came up with a steal, and fed Ted Detmer for a layup, foul, and added free throw to extend the lead to double digits. Kevin Bulger drew Columbia back within 32-23 with a jumper, but Cummins struck again from three just before the halftime buzzer. Leading by 12, Lafayette came out of intermission with an Everest Schmidt layup, then added an Andrew Brown three a minute later. Bilal Abdullah got into the act from outside the arc on the next possession, as the Leopards suddenly led 43-23 less than three minutes into the second half.
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| Key sign it was over |
A pair of Baumann free throws brought Columbia to within nine with under five minutes to play, but Gruner answered with two from the line. K.J. Matsui misfired on a three, and Cummings grabbed two straight offensive rebounds before eventually scoring on a putback. Following an offensive foul on Brett Loscalzo, Abdullah connected from long range to finish off a quick 7-0 run by Lafayette to restore its advantage to 16 points with under three minutes left. .
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| Key performance |
Brown had a big afternoon with 22 points on the strength of 6-for-10 shooting from three-point range, and also recorded four assists in 25 minutes.
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| Key statistic |
While Lafayette was hot from the outside, it was inside the arc where the Leopards had the biggest advantage. They shot 21 of 31 (67.7 percent) on two-pointers, while Columbia was just 9 of 25 (36.0 percent), as the Lions were outscored 38-14 in the paint.
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| Notes
– Matsui (14 points) and Loscalzo (11 points) were the only Columbia players in double figures, as Baumann was hampered by foul difficulties and missed all five of his attempts from the floor, en route to just six points — all from the line.
– Abdullah was the other Lafayette starter in double figures with 11, while Fran O’Hanlon got great production from his bench, with Cummins (12 points) and Ted Detmer (11 points) spearheading a 38-point effort from the Leopard reserves.
– Patrick Foley did not play for the third consecutive game due to a shoulder injury suffered in the Stony Brook win on November 24.
– Turnovers were relative even at 17-16 in Lafayette’s favor, but the Leopards did a much better job of capitalizing on these mistakes, owning a 23-13 edge in points off turnovers.
– Columbia had a big edge at the free throw line, where it attempted 20 free throws to just eight for Lafayette, and the Lions had a 13-6 edge in scoring at the stripe.
– Both teams struggled on the defensive glass, with Columbia rebounding at 44.7 percent offensively, Lafayette wasn’t far behind at 38.5 percent.
– Following a break for exams, the Leopards will return to action on Wednesday, December 19, when they head down to Towson for a 7:00 pm ET game.
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