On Monday, Brown men’s basketball built up a big second half lead at Harvard and held on in the final minute for a two-point win. Five days later, however, the Bears found itself on the other end of that formula and came up one-point short against Cornell in an 84-83 defeat at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
The Big Red (13-3, 3-0 Ivy), winners of three straight league contests for the first time since their Sweet 16 2009-10 season, finished the day tied with Princeton and Yale at the top of the Ancient Eight standings, while the Bears (5-13, 1-2) were knotted in fourth place with Harvard and Penn.
The teams battled back-and-forth during the first 11 minutes with the lead changing hands 10 times.
After Brown went up 18-17 at the 9:18 mark, Cornell got incredibly hot over the next minutes, shooting 7-for-7 from three, 7-for-8 from the charity stripe and 2-for-4 from two, to open up a 49-33 advantage.
The Bears stopped the bleeding and ended the half on a 9-0 run, thanks to seven straight points from Brown junior forward Nana Owusu-Anane.
Cornell jumped out of the game quickly in the second half and upped its lead to 14 points, 63-49, when Isaiah Gray hit a triple with 14:41 left in regulation.
The Bears suddenly regrouped and took control of the contest, cutting the lead to two, 71-69, over the next seven-plus minutes. During that time, Bruno went 5-for-6 from inside the arc, 2-for-4 from downtown, with senior guard Felix Kloman scoring 10 points.
An uncontested three-pointer by junior guard Kino Lilly Jr. from the top of the arc kept it a two-point game, 80-78, with just over a minute to go.
Kloman fouled Gray, on the next possession, on a contested layup and the Cornell guard went 1-for-2 from the free throw line.
Lilly attempted another three-pointer from the right elbow, but he was heavily guarded by senior guard Chris Manon and the shot went off the rim. Sophomore forward Landon Lewis came down with all-important offensive rebound and was fouled by Gray.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Lewis missed both free throws and the second one was grabbed by the Big Red.
Manon was fouled at the 18-second mark and went 1-for-2 from the line to make it a two-possession game, 82-78.
With eight seconds left, Owusu-Anane was sent to the line, after trying to make a driving layup, and hit both shots to make it 82-80.
The visitors couldn’t get the immediate inbounds and had to burn a timeout. On the next attempt, however, the Big Red was successful, and Manon was fouled.
The senior from New Milford, N.J. sank both free throws, which rendered Kimo Ferrari’s buzzer-beating three-pointer irrelevant.
Cornell finished the day shooting 61.5% (16-for-26) from two, which was slightly off its nation-leading 63.5%, and 38.7% (12-for-31) from three, which was better than its overall 33.6% success rate. At the line, the Big Red shot 72.7%, which was similar to its season-long 72.9% rate.
Five Big Red players had double-digit scoring with Manon and Gray leading the way with 16 points each. Manon also added nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.
While the hosts converted 62.5% (20-for-32) of its shots inside the arc, the Bears could only manage 28.6% (6-for-21) from three and 65.8% (25-for-38) from the free throw line. The effort from the charity stripe was actually slightly better than the season-long 63.7%, but the team is still 347rd nationally.
Owusu-Anane was the top performer for Brown with 21 points, seven rebounds, four steals and an assist. Lilly and Kloman ended the day with 16 and 13 points, respectively.
Both teams will be in action next Saturday.
Cornell will face Princeton (15-1, 3-0) in a battle for first place but will need to avoid the lapses that occurred in its last two victories over Brown and Penn. The Bears, meanwhile, will look to muster more consistency and improved shooting when the team travels north to face a Dartmouth (4-12, 0-3) squad sitting at the bottom of the standings.