The Brown men’s basketball team combined unselfish offensive play with a strong defensive effort to cruise to an easy 86-61 victory over Columbia in a Friday evening tussle at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
The victory avenges a 74-72 loss at Levien Gymnasium on February 8.
Since that defeat, Mike Martin’s Bears (13-10, 5-5 Ivy) have won three in a row and moved into a tie for fourth place with Cornell.
While Bruno continues its drive towards its second consecutive appearance in the Ivy League Tournament, Jim Engles’ Lions (12-11, 1-9), which have suffered defeats in three straight games and 10 of their last 11, has officially been eliminated from the postseason.
The contest was competitive over the first five minutes, with the lead changing five times.
Up 17-14 at the 13:53 mark, Brown scored 15 of the next 17 points, including an 11-0 run that featured five buckets from five different players.
Columbia responded with a 12-4 run of its own over the next seven minutes, with first-year guard Gianni Cobb netting half of those points.
With its lead down to eight, 36-28, Brown converted a jumper and two straight layups to make it a 14-point game with less than a minute to go.
A Cobb triple from the left elbow finished the first half scoring, making it a 42-31 game in favor of Brown at the half.
With both teams having limited success from three and the free throw line, Brown opened its lead on the strength of its inside game, hitting 15 two-pointers and grabbing 28 points in the paint while holding the Lions to nine and 10, respectively.
During the opening frame, the Bears showed off their depth and unselfish play, with 14 assists on 19 made baskets and nine different players in the scoring column.
Columbia hoped to limit Brown’s ball movement and inside game to get back into the game, but it was not to be.
The Bears started the half on a 13-3 run to stretch its lead to 55-34 at the 16:31 mark.
It was an 18-point game at the halfway point of the second stanza, when junior guard Alexander Lesburt, Jr. nailed back-to-back three-pointers and sophomore guard Adrian Uchidiuno hit a driving layup to make it 73-47.
The Lions got as close as 22 points with just over five minutes remaining in the game, but a 6-0 run from the Brown reserves upped the team’s advantage to a game-high 28 points.
For the evening, Brown shot a strong 67% (26-for-39) from two and had an equally good 66% (23-of-35) assist rate, despite going only 29% (9-for-31) from three and 54% (7-for-13) from the free-throw line. Defensively, Bruno held Columbia to 50% (16-for-32) on the inside, 18% (5-for-28) from the outside, 56% (14-for-25) at the charity stripe, and a 43% (9-for-21) assist rate.
While the Bears struggled as a team from beyond the arc, the same cannot be said for Lesburt, who finished with a game-high 20 points and a 6-for-11 effort from three. This was the third time this season that Lesburt notched six triples, with the other two against Dartmouth and Sacred Heart.
Sophomore guard Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson added 14 points on 70% shooting, while junior forward Landon Lewis had a stat-stuffing night of 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Brown’s leading scorer, Kino Lilly Jr., only had five points on 2-for-7 shooting, but the senior All-Ivy guard dished a game-high eight assists.
For the Lions, Cobb and fellow first-year guard Gerard O’Keefe each had a team-high 16 points, while junior forward Blair Thompson contributed seven points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Both teams have a quick turnaround, with Brown and Cornell (13-10, 5-5) battling for sole possession of fourth place at the Pizzitola Sports Center, while Columbia hits the road for a matchup against first-place and newly crowned 2025 Ivy League champion Yale (17-6, 10-0).