NEW YORK — In what likely was the last game in Morningside Heights for coach Kyle Smith, the Columbia Lions made history.
Before a packed house at Levien Gym on Tuesday night, Columbia downed UC Irvine, 73-67, to win the CollegeInsider.com championship game.
It marked the first postseason tournament win by a New York City program since St. John’s won the NIT in 2003 (a title that was later vacated) and the first by an Ivy League program since Princeton won the NIT in 1975.
Grant Mullins led Columbia with 20 points, Luke Petrasek scored 16, Jeff Coby had 14 and Maodo Lo 13. Lo’s three-pointer with 1:42 left put the Lions up 63-57.
From there, the Lions hit 9-of-12 from the line while holding the UC Irvine offense to only five points from the field.
“Tonight is about them, not me,” Smith told Steve Overymyer of CBS-2 NY following the game.
Smith, 46, is expected to take the San Franciso job following his epic final win at Columbia. He went 95-79 (.546) in six seasons at the Ivy League outfit, including a 25-10 mark this season, 10-4 in the Ivy League.
NJIT coach Jimmy Engles, a Columbia assistant from 2003-08, is the favorite to replace Smith in Morningside Heights, multiple sources told SNY.tv.
“I’ve done nothing,” Smith told Overmyer. “They did it.”
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