Reply To: Re: Columbia

[LU65Participant]

Great game if you were a spectator with little interest in the outcome or a guy holding LU +6. Sadly, I was neither. With 8 lead changes and 8 ties and no one able to stretch a lead beyond 8 points, it was fun. The 626 fans got into it and so did the coaches, especially the oft times stoic Reed. Great to see the LU bench so animated, cheering one come back after another and the work of guys who happen to be on the floor at the time. Nine got into the scoring column with only Dave Buchberger missing out going 0 for 1. He’ll get a pass from me and the others wearing the brown and white for the work he did holding Noruwa Agho to 5 points in 30 minutes of play. Too bad our best defender couldn’t be everywhere as two other Columbia guards, Scott and Foley combined for 35 points (10 for 16 from the floor and 12 for 15 from the line). Before, I forget ……….Bison, you’re right, Ampin wasn’t 7 foot tall…..just 6’6". Although he played like he was pulling down 6 boards in 23 minutes while going 3 for 4 and dishing out a couple of key assists. Looking for Lehigh highlights, you have to go no further than the forecourt play of freshmen Knutson (career best 17) and Greiner (6 boards and 7 points in 25 minutes), along with sophomores Adams , and Mineri. Wasn’t it Holden Greiner the one no one ever talked about when the subject to turned to incoming frosh. It was always CJ McCullum and Gabe Knutson. Not so, any more as he continues to chip in 7 + points a night in his 22 minutes on the floor. The four of them (Knutson, Greiner, Adams and Mineri) are doing their part (and more) to keep the post warm until Zahir returns, scoring 37 of the team’s 70 points last night. Another bright spot has to be the return to form of our leader, Marquis Hall (19 pts., 6 boards, and 5 assists.). With all this good news, there has to be some bad. There is. What’s up with CJ, our Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year? A 1 for 12 night on the heels of a 1-8 outing a few nights ago vs. Stony Brook. This, after going 24 for 49 in his first 4 collegiate games. Bad looks at the basket? No, not really. Nerves? Hard to imagine………you’d think they crop up in games 1 thru 4, not now. Whatever it is, let’s hope they pass. But, then again, maybe not soon enough as we travel to Ohio tomorrow to take on the Fliers of Dayton – a three and one half hour drive from Canton, home of CJ McCollum.