Down 55-54, the Lions (10-16, 4-8 Ivy) had 13 seconds to get the ball up the court, and make a shot to take the lead. The ball somehow found its way into the hands of junior forward Brian Grimes, who had to throw up a tough fadeaway jumper from deep, with just 2.7 seconds remaining. He made it, and Columbia won the game 56-55.
“We ran our play and the ball ended up in my hands, and I just tried to make the play,” Grimes said. “It happened to be a fadeaway spin shot, but that was the only shot that was available, and it went in.”
Unfortunately for the Light Blue seniors, that all happened in Friday night’s game against Penn (5-20, 4-7 Ivy), not in their final game at Levien Gymnasium, on Saturday against Princeton (17-8, 8-3 Ivy). Columbia was unable to carry the momentum from the Penn victory, and fell to the Tigers 67-52.
The Lions’ victory over the Quakers was a historic one, as it was the first time Columbia has swept a season series against Penn since the 1967-68 season, a true feat considering how dominant the Quakers normally are in the Ivy League.
“To sweep Penn is major for any program in this league,” Columbia head coach Joe Jones said after the victory.
For the past two seasons, the contests between the Quakers and the Lions have been close. In fact, in the Light Blue’s final game last year, Penn won in heartbreaking fashion, as a last second 3-pointer by then-senior Kevin Egee gave the Quakers a 51-50 victory.
“I would say I was definitely having feelings of déjà vu after Brian hit that and I saw that there was still some time on the clock,” senior Kevin Bulger said. “So I was just trying to get everyone in and say remember last year, two seconds, we got to stay solid on defense here. Fortunately, we were good enough to make the play there at the end.”
The game was close from the beginning, with 11 lead changes throughout the night. The Quakers led for most of the first, half and entered the half with a 30-27 lead. In that first half, Columbia shot just 40.7 percent from the floor, but what really hurt the Light Blue the most was the rebounding margin—in the first stanza, Penn out-rebounded the Lions 17-9.
“Rebounding is something that’s been hurting us all year—it’s been a bit of an Achilles’ heel for us,” Bulger said.
But the Light Blue was able to turn it around in the second half, out-rebounding the Quakers by the exact same margin.
“Coach came in at halftime and said ‘we really need you to step up’ and I think some of the bigs, and some of the other guards definitely made a conscious effort to get in there, and get some rebounds that we needed,” Bulger said. “We can’t be giving teams second chances to score. If we keep doing that, we’re obviously not going to win a lot, and that’s what’s been happening.”
With the improvement on the boards, the Lions also saw an improvement in their shooting, making 57.9 percent of their second-half shots. Still though, the Lions trailed for the first ten minutes after intermission, until senior guard Niko Scott hit a 3-pointer, with 9:54 remaining, to tie the game at 45. Less than two minutes later, Scott nailed another trey, giving Columbia its first lead since early in the first half.
“He was a big lift,” sophomore guard Noruwa Agho said of Scott. “It’s huge to have somebody who can hit a couple of threes. ... I’m sure he’d have liked to make a couple more shots, but still, those shots were huge.”
Scott wasn’t the only senior who had an impressive game, as Bulger too made some crucial plays. Bulger finished the game with eight points, four assists, and four steals.
“He made some huge plays down the stretch for us, and played like a senior in his last weekend,” Jones said of Bulger. “I thought both him and Niko played like seniors.”
Agho also put up a solid performance, leading all scorers with 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting while also grabbing six rebounds.
Before the game Saturday, there was a ceremony honoring the three seniors—Bulger, Scott, and point guard Patrick Foley. In front of a crowd of 1,926 people, the tri-captains all played at Levien for one last time. Foley, who has been out with a shoulder injury since Jan. 29, got to start, but only played three minutes as he is still limited.
“It was a great turnout,” said an emotional Foley after the game. “I want to thank the fans that stuck with us all year, despite it all. It’s a good feeling, even though the way it turned out, it was good to see all the support in the stands.”
Unfortunately for the seniors, the game against Princeton was not their best this season. The Lions were out-rebounded 35-20 and made only 38.8 percent of their shots, while allowing the Tigers to make 52.3 percent.
The game did start off well for the Lions though, as they jumped out to a 14-7 lead, with 12:38 to play in the first half. Princeton would eventually close that gap though, and take a 28-20 lead at the half.
After a layup by junior forward Max Craig cut the Tigers’ lead to only six at the beginning of the second half, Princeton went on a 14-2 run to take an 18-point lead with just over 12 and-a-half minutes left to play. Though Columbia would make a couple of runs, it was never able to complete the comeback, falling 67-52.
“We just got too far behind,” Jones said. “You can’t get that far behind and expect to come back against a good team like this.”
Scott led his team in scoring in his final home game, putting up 12 points despite fouling out with a minute and a half to play. Scott left the court to a standing ovation, as did Bulger and Foley.
“It was a privilege for me, being from New York, just having all my family there,” said an emotional Scott after the game. “It’s probably the last time they’ll get to see me play.”
Bulger finished the game with 11 points.
“We’ve had some really good memories in Levien, so it’s always obviously really special to play in there, any opportunity, but especially tonight—Senior Night—playing along with these guys for the last time at home,” Bulger said. “It was great.”
After the game, Jones only had good things to say about the senior class.
“It was unfortunate that we lost their last home game this way, I really wanted them to go out winners,” Jones said. “I got a great deal of respect for all three of them, they’ve meant a great deal to this program and they’ve done a lot for us.”
As upsetting as Saturday’s results were, the Light Blue still has two games left, as it will travel to Yale and Brown this weekend.
“As tough as that is, we still got two more to go out,” Foley said. “Hopefully we can close this out on a good note. It’s always tough losing your last one at home, but, I guess it softens the blow a little bit to know that you got two more to go.”