Up 71-58 with 2:30 left in regulation, the Columbia men looked well on their way to a comfortable victory at Levien Gymnasium, but Lehigh rode a huge 17-4 run to knot the game at 75 with seconds on the clock.
A controversial foul on the Mountain Hawks sent Lions junior guard Avery Brown to the line with 0.8 left, and the junior guard sank one of two free throws to seal the deal.
The relieved Lions are 4-0 for the first time since 2005, while a frustrated Lehigh sits at 0-3.
Leading 10-9 after the first few minutes, Columbia went on a 15-4 run, punctuated by two triples by senior guard Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week.
The Mountain Hawks responded with their own 10-0 run to make it a 25-23 game with just over seven minutes left in the half.
The Lions build their lead back to seven with under a minute to go, but a jumper from just inside the foul line by senior guard Keith Higgins Jr. and a pair of free throws by junior center Tommy Conniff made it a 40-37 game in Columbia’s favor at the break.
The Light Blue shot well over the opening twenty minutes, hitting 57% from two (8-for-14) and 50% from three (7-for-14). The one area they didn’t have success was at the charity stripe, where they went 3-for-6.
Junior forward Zine Eddine Bedri led the way with 10 points, including seven of the team’s first 12, and Rubio De La Rosa added nine.
While Lehigh had its way inside the arc, shooting 63% (12-for-19), Columbia limited the visitors to 30% (3-for-10) from downtown.
The game was knotted at 50 with 10:30 left in the second half when the Lions went on a 13-1 run, highlighted by a bucket, three rebounds (two offensive) and two assists by senior forward/center Jake Tavroff.
After jumpers by Tavroff and Brown put Columbia ahead 71-58, Higgins took over.
Following a Lehigh jumper, the West Hills, Calif. native nailed a triple from the top of the key. Seconds later, he stole a pass near the left elbow and hit another triple to make it 71-66 with 1:06 on the clock.
Higgins immediately turned around, stole the ball out of Brown’s hands near the left sideline and was sent to the charity stripe, where he made one of two shots.
Following Brown’s 1-for-2 effort from the free-throw line and a Lehigh jump shot by senior guard Tyler Whitney-Sidney, the Lions’ lead was down to 72-69.
Brown went to the line again and missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Eddine Bedri tapped the ball back to junior Blair Thompson.
Rubio De La Rosa ended up shooting free throws and the conference’s premier free-throw shooter hit both to make it a five-point game with 25 seconds left in the half.
Lehigh pushed the ball up and found Higgins on the left side of the arc, and Higgins hit another triple to cut the deficit to two, 74-72.
After Brown went 1-for-2 from the stripe, the Mountain Hawks had one last chance to tie or take the lead.
As expected, the ball ended in Higgins’ hands. This time he hit a trey from the right side of the arc, his seventh of the night, to tie it up with four seconds remaining.
Thompson quickly inbounds the ball to Brown, who sprinted forward. He stuck his arm out and tried a spin move, but he lost control of the ball with less than a second to go.
But the referee called a foul on Lehigh sophomore guard Cam Gillus.
Despite the protestations of the Lehigh bench and fans – and comments from the announcers that the play should have been a no-call – Brown went back to the line.
After making the first shot, Brown intentionally missed the second to make it impossible for Higgins and Lehigh to make one more run.
“I thought we stopped them enough, but then we’ve got to finish the end of the game with the situations,” Columbia coach Jim Engles told Lance Medow after the game. “We’re an experienced team, we’ve had situations like that in the past, but we’ll be better.”
Rubio De La Rosa led the way for the victors, putting up a team-high 24 points and eight rebounds, along with three assists and three steals. Eddine Bedri was held scoreless in the final 20 minutes and finished with 10 points, while Tavroff contributed four points, six rebounds (three offensive) and two assists in 13 minutes.
In defeat, Higgins had a career-high 28 points on 67% (10-for-15) shooting.
The Lions’ offensive production dropped significantly in the last half. Columbia made only 48% (11-for-23) from two, 18% (2-for-11) from three, and 53% (8-for-15) from the line, while its defense allowed the Mountain Hawks to hit 67% (8-for-12) from inside and 50% (6-for-12) from downtown.
Fortunately, Lehigh’s 40% (4-for-10) second-half free-throw shooting was worse than Columbia’s and the Lions +10/+53% in rebounding led to 10 more attempted shots and 11 more second-chance points.
“We’ve got to control what we can control. We can’t control the whistle at all times, but what we can do is control our effort on the glass,” coach Brett Reed told Lehigh Athletics after the game. “During that stretch of time when Columbia extended their lead, it came from extra possessions, extra opportunities and finishes at the rim.”
Columbia, which is now ranked No. 158 in KenPom and owns a win over the-No. 31 Villanova, has four straight games against teams that are currently ranked No. 302 and higher. Then the Lions have two non-Division I teams and three teams ranked between No. 232 and 275.
They are favored in each of those contests.
If all goes well for Engles and his Lions, they could find themselves 13-0 when they have their final nonconference game against Rutgers on Dec. 30.