NEW YORK — Columbia had a week of winning to be thankful for before the school's holiday break. The Lions had their second win in a row with a 87-62 victory over College of Saint Vincent at Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.

"It's great. It's important," head coach Jim Engles said. "We certainly work, we've been working very hard and guys are doing a good job of trying to learn different things and learn a lot of things. There's a lot of nuances that they have to pick up and they're getting better on a daily basis. We still have a long way to go, but I am happy with the progress we have made."

Liam Murphy had a game-high 29 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three and 4-for-4 from the free throw line to go along with nine rebounds to lead Columbia.
"I got some open looks, which really dictated my rhythm and the comfortability I had out there," Murphy said. "The guy's got me good looks. And I think that we went over some good things in practice and were patient and moved throughout the zone, to not fall into the trap of taking quick shots or force shots or anything. I felt like the team played pretty well. Obviously, a lot to work on like the coach said, but I feel good about it."

Columbia (2-2) jumped out to an early lead, and doubled up College of Mount Saint Vincent (1-3), taking a commanding 46-23 halftime lead. The Lions are 2-0 vs. the D-III school after starting the series in 2020.

Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa dished out a game-high five assists, while Luke Bolster added four of the team's 19. They also each had two steals. Josh Odunowo added nine points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, with five rebounds and two blocks.

Zavian McLean had 11 points and five rebounds. Stepping into a bigger role, McLean keyed a comeback OT victory vs. Binghamton on Wendesday.

"It's been good. Obviously, as you play more you get more comfortable. I think that's been the main thing for me, as well as other guys," McLean said. "We're just hungry. We just really want to win. We really want to compete and I think it's showing more and more as we're on the court. And the more comfortable you get, the more confidence we tend to have with one another. We kind of can be ourselves in the court a little bit more. So I think that's a big component. Just kind of finding your own team goes out of our role definition a lot, it is just really trying to be the best in your role as you possibly can be. That's the biggest thing for me as well as other guys on the team just trying to maximize my role as much as possible so that it can lead to."

Saturday marked the end of a three-game home stand. Columbia will spend Thanksgiving week on the road at Lehigh (Nov. 23) and Boston College (Nov. 26) on deck.
It will be the first true roadtrip for the team, after traveling to the Bronx for its only road game thus far.

"That's the next learning process," Engles said. "Fordham is sort of a road game. Now at Lehigh, and we'll be on the road for Thanksgiving and have Thanksgiving dinner together and as a team. That'll be a good moment for us."

Something the players are looking forward to. For the first-years and sophomores, it will be the first overnight college road trip after COVID-19 canceled the 2020-21 season.

"It's definitely exciting," Murphy said. "We're a pretty young team. This is a lot of our first experience really being on the road and obviously playing Boston College on the road, an ACC team, it should be fun," Murphy said. "We spoke about the fact that they're two games that we're going to play in they're looking to really win and really think we have a good chance of winning. So it's just exciting."

Columbia and Lehigh's matchup is set for 7 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on ESPN+. 

Tickets for the Lions' remaining home games are available by visiting gocolumbialions.com/tickets or calling 888-LIONS-11. For venue policies, click here.

​​For the latest on Columbia men's basketball, follow @CULionsMBB on Twitter and Instagram, and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.

Matt Sugam has been covering sports in the NYC Metropolitan area for over a decade. He has spent the last eight years covering college and professional sports as a stringer for the Associated Press, while also contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He will be covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia's School of Professional Studies. Follow him on Twitter @MattSugam