Men's basketball falls to Yale as Swain scores 37, drops to last in Ivy League

Upper West Side NY

28 January, 2022

4:15 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY MILES SCHACHNER • JANUARY 27, 2022, 11:17 PM On Tuesday night, the best scorer in the Ivy League showed why he owns that title. From the very beginning of the Lions' (4-13, 1-4 Ivy) weeknight matchup against Yale (9-9, 3-1 Ivy), Columbia was at a loss in the face of the brilliance of Bulldogs guard Azar Swain. The six-foot-one senior, who is Yale's all-time leader in three pointers scored, torched the Light Blue for 37 points en route to a 83-72 victory over the Lions. A resilient second-half effort kept the score close after Swain's first-half explosion, but Columbia's comeback fell short with the Lions' conference losing streak extending to three games. "I thought everything was contested," head coach Jim Engles said, referencing the defense his squad played on Swain. "So, he's a handful. He's a really good player. He's someone next game, we'll have to scheme for a little bit differently." It did not take long for Swain to get rolling. He made his first four shots, including three from beyond the arc, to help give Yale an early 20-2 lead. Though the Lions were able to bring the deficit to 10 about halfway through the first half, they could not get into any sort of offensive groove. The Lions shot under 40 percent from the field while the team's leading scorer, senior forward Ike Nweke, was limited to 1-6 shooting. The Light Blue returned from the halftime break facing a long road ahead. Swain's 24 points in the first 20 minutes had helped to bury Columbia in a 46-28 deficit, and the Yale guard looked unstoppable: he made a variety of moves, including crossovers, step-backs, and floaters, that no Lions defender had an answer for. The second half was a better story for Columbia. Nweke began making his way to the basket after he had struggled to convert on fadeaways throughout the first half, and the Lions' offense immediately benefitted. After only two first half points, the star forward finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds, adding another strong game to his case for a spot on the All-Ivy first team—he is fourth in the conference in scoring with 20 points a contest in Ancient Eight games. "It was just more of a focal point to get him close to the rim in the second half," Engles said. "He was catching the ball in the paint and was able to finish through contact. So he played very well in the second half, something he needs to learn from so we can start the game like that." Solid second-half performances from some of Columbia's perimeter shot-creators also gave the team a boost in the last 20 minutes. First-year guard Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa scored in double digits for the second time in Ivy play, knocking down four threes on his way to 16 points. Junior forward Cameron Shockley-Okeke continued to score efficiently, finishing in double digits for the fourth straight game after a 13-point showing. The second-half flurry from Columbia, in which the Lions outscored the Elis by seven points, was not enough to overcome the halftime deficit. The loss highlighted two weaknesses that have challenged Columbia all season: inconsistency from half to half and defensive miscues. Though defended closely, Swain continued to carve up Columbia's league-worst defense throughout the second half, adding 17 more points to finish with a career-high of 37 on 14-20 shooting. Still, Engles remained happy with the team's effort, and thought a better first-half performance may have resulted in a win. "We did a majority of the things that we wanted to do," Engles said. "We had a slow start offensively, but we picked it up. And then knowing you're playing against a kid like Swain, we were really doing a good job on him. He's just making some crazy shots. The guys played well. They really did focus." The Lions fell to last place in the Ivy League with the loss, a position they share with Dartmouth (4-12, 1-4 Ivy), whom Columbia gets a chance to play next. The Big Green will square off against the Light Blue at home on Saturday. Tipoff is at 2 p.m and fans can watch the game on ESPN+. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.