November 18th, 2018: Columbia at Fordham

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Jalen Cobb sank a floater at the buzzer to give Fordham a 70-69 win over Columbia and a tournament win in the Johnny Bach Classic. Nick Honor scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half to lead Fordham. Mike Smith had a team-high 15 points for Columbia in the loss.

For drama, guards, epic hair, charge bugles, and changing seats, join your intrepid and hyped blogger after the jump.

Basketball never stops here at Rose Hill, and it's time for the Fordham men to play some basketball, as they take on the Columbia Lions.

There was a bit of a communication breakdown regarding how far out of the gym we had to go. In order to avoid any unnecessary confusion, we've returned to the baseline bleachers we occupied during the neutral game. Honestly, we should probably be at the other end of the court, where the band is, but I don't like being by the opposing bench and I don't feel like walking anyway.

Good Lord, Columbia has a lot of players. I should not be distracted by the cute guy using the railing by our section to stretch. I'm twice his age and it's a very depressing thought.

Dance team's mismatched denim jackets look even less uniform from the back. It's not a good look. It also blocks my view of the baseline, which is not okay. I'm here for basketball, not dancing girls.

Fordham's staff is very sharply dressed. Those are some nice suits. They're the only team whose staff bothered to dress up for this tournament.

At halftime of a very competitive game, Columbia is up 34-33 on Fordham. It might help if we could keep Jake Killingsworth from hitting threes- he has three of them for a team-high nine points. We're having trouble keeping them from driving as well. Antwon Portley has three threes to lead Fordham.

Musical chairs is sort of bootleg when you don't actually have chairs. I'm just saying.

I already told you I could get my wrist and twist it like a stir-fry, find a new song. And, uh, okay, I just looked up the lyrics and while I have made stir-fry, I have never cooked crack.

What a finish! Just when you think it's over, it's not over! Five points in eight seconds! Never give up and never surrender. I'll be fair- Columbia outplayed Fordham for most of the game, but all that mattered was the fight and the spark.

So Jake Killingsworth can shoot a little bit from outside. I wasn't sure if anyone noticed, since Fordham let him keep doing it. I'm not okay with this, for the record. Nice shot. The Lions also got a little bit of that from Peter Barba in the second half and a whole lot of that from Quinton Adlesh all through the game. Maka Ellis made a good hustle play to get a bucket, and also drove your intrepid blogger to despair regarding that age difference.

Patrick Tapé was called upon for a lot of minutes in the frontcourt, thanks to foul trouble from the starters- he came in almost immediately in the first half, after two fouls on Ike Nweke. Randy Brumant pulled down offensive rebounds and put down dunks. You'll pardon me for not getting excited about that, both because I'm not the biggest dunking fan and because I was rooting for Fordham.

Ike Nweke couldn't stay out of his own way. You get two fouls to start the game, within the first three minutes or so, you're going to have a bad time of it. He's got size, and he's got good touch at the basket, but none of that helps if you can't stay on the floor. Rodney Hunter started, but didn't play a lot- they were getting a lot of offense off the bench from their shooters, so I guess it makes sense.

Mike Smith has amazing hair. It is a truly epic 'frohawk. Columbia's second half approach mostly consisted of him dribbling until he found a lane, then driving and either scoring, passing, or getting fouled and going to the line. He had a couple of really nice passes to Nweke in the low post. Gabe Stefanini gave them good cuts to the basket and good size at the guard slot. Tai Bibbs seemed to almost be getting a courtesy start.

In the early going, Columbia's offensive rebounding was ridiculously good. We were able to buckle down in the second half and defend the boards better.

The answer to "who was that masked man?" is David Pekarek, who was able ot body up inside for the Rams. The real star in the post was Chuba Ohams, who appears to be approximately 96% arms and legs and who slapped a couple of monster blocks, in addition to getting on the glass. He needs to finish better at the rim, but I'll take what we got.

Onyi Eyisi had a nifty offensive rebound in the first half. I kept thinking of him more as a forward than as a guard, but I'll admit that the size in the men's game often throws me off. It's all a matter of perspective, you know? Ty Perry was part of a lot of three-guard sets- Fordham seemed to be going with that a lot down the stretch. I can't say I'm surprised, to be honest.

Jesse Bunting is tough and physical, but after a couple of foul calls he disagreed with, I was surprised he didn't do something stupid, to be honest. He looked ready to. Ivan Raut's three set up the big quick comeback to finish the game. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting him to have that kind of touch from the outside.

Nick Honor kicked it up a notch in the second half, getting to the rack and hitting the midrange shots. That is also an amazing name, I'm just saying. Jalen Cobb has a nice shot, though his freshman-ness was showing during one possession when multiple people had to remind him of what position he was assigned to on that play. Game-winning shots are best shots, though. Antwon Portley fired up a lot of shots and gave some good hustle.

The men at Fordham play a faster and more open style of play than the women. That's not commentary on men versus women, but on different coaching styles. And for all the talk some purported basketball fans like to blather on about, there were very few dunks in this game. Maybe two worth mentioning? (There was also a little one from Brumant that would better be described as a dink.)

Block/charge confusion was the overall theme of the day.

Fordham's band has an impressive repertoire. They didn't dig into repeating songs until late into the second game. The "Charge!" horn at charge calls, or at what they believe should be charge calls, was fun.

That finish was definitely worth staying for. I thought it was over when Columbia hit the fast break dunk, but it just goes to show you.