A poor shooting performance by the Eagles cost the men’s basketball team the game as Lions won 61-47 Nov. 26 in New York City.
The Eagles’ shooting struggles began in the first half as the team struggled going 8-22 from the field, 36.4 percent. On the other side, Columbia shot 50 percent in the first half.
“We fell way behind in the first half,” head coach Mike Brennan said, who spent one season as a coach at Columbia, about his team’s performance. “We just have to keep getting better.”
AU’s shooting percentage improved in the second half, going up to 45.5 percent on 10-22 and coinciding with Columbia’s shooting dropping down to 37.5 percent from the field.
Junior guard John Schoof struggled in particular going 1-7 from the field and 0-2 from the free throw line.
Not all the Eagles finished with a poor stat line. Senior center Tony Wroblicky scored 15 points on 6-9 from the field, tying a team high five rebounds and showing good hustle and effort throughout the game.
“We’ve been working on Tony being aggressive from the post, making him score,” Brennan said of Wroblicky. “That’s not what he normally does so I was happy to see him do that tonight.”
Junior guard Darrius Gardner also had a good game, matching Wroblicky’s 15 points and forcing three steals.
Despite the Eagles’ scoring the first basket of the game on a layup from Wroblicky, the Lions responded moments later when Maodo Lo hit a three pointer to start a 9-0 run to give the Lions a lead they would not relinquish.
The Lions continued to hit shots while the Eagles missed, resulting in a Columbia lead which was as large as 16 in the late stages of the first half. A three pointer from AU junior Austin Carroll at 1:47 in the first half would put the Eagles down 33-20 at the break.
“The losses are tough,” Brennan said. “I know the guys are super disappointed and it’s hard for me and we all don’t like losing, as long as we are showing improvement I will stay positive with these guys.”
AU will conclude its current four-game road trip by taking on St. Francis (Pa.) Nov. 30 before returning to Bender for the first time in over two weeks Dec. 4 to take on Howard University.
