In a physical battle that featured 17 lead changes and 15 ties over 45 minutes, Brown men’s basketball opened up its largest lead of the game in the extra session and held on for an 86-80 victory over Columbia at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Martin’s Bears (7-8, 1-2 Ivy League) picked up their first conference win in three tries, while Kevin Hovde’s Lions (12-5, 1-2) dropped their second straight Ancient Eight contest.
“Really, really pleased,” Martin told the ESPN+/NESN broadcast team after the game. “That was a hard, hard-fought game. They’re (Columbia) a heck of a team.”
Following a 6-0 run to take a 34-33 lead with less than five minutes left in the opening half, Brown allowed Columbia to flex its muscles, and the Light Blue scored nine of the last 11 points, including a 7-0 run capped by a buzzer beating layup off a missed three, to go into the half up 42-36.
“The last 12 minutes of the half, they dominated us on the glass,” a concerned Martin told ESPN+/NESN at the break. “All seven points were second chance points. No box out, layup; no box out, three; and obviously, the one right there (at the buzzer).”
Brown’s players and coaches challenged themselves, individually and collectively, at halftime, and Bruno knotted the game at 46 by the first media timeout.
Over the next 15 minutes, neither team could extend its lead to more than four points.
With the Bears up one in the final minute of the half and Columbia inbounding the ball, junior guard Adrian Uchidiuno got a hand on the ball and tipped it to sophomore guard Jeremiah Jenkins, who drove through two defenders to make it 72-69.
On the following possession, sophomore forward Mason Ritter set a screen that left senior guard Blair Thompson wide open for a game-tying triple from the top of the key.
Both teams had chances to win it in regulation, but no one could connect and the game headed to overtime.
With two minutes remaining in the extra session and Bruno up 77-75, Columbia senior guard Kenny Noland, the fourth best scorer in the Ancient Eight, was called for his fifth foul of the day and two free throws by Uchidiuno made it a four-point game.
An empty Columbia possession followed by two made shots from the charity stripe by Jenkins increased the lead to a game-high six for Brown.
It was a five-point game, 83-78, with 20 seconds left, when Jenkins committed a foul on an inbounds pass to give the Lions life.
First-year forward Connor Igoe hit a layup to make it a one-possession game, but a 1-for-2 effort from the charity stripe by Jenkins and a missed triple from the right elbow by Thompson sealed the win for the Bears.
“We’re a pretty physical team, we’re a pretty tough team and we didn’t think we finished the half with those characteristics,” an appreciative Martin said immediately after the game. “I think we all challenged each other … and you could see it right away in the second half. They responded to each other. That’s a sign of a connected team.”
Below are several keys to Bruno’s first Ancient Eight win of 2026.
Improved rebounding
Columbia, which entered the day with the fourth-best rebounding margin in the nation, had 23 first-half rebounds, including 10 on the offensive side, leading to a +23.1% overall advantage on the glass.
As Martin finished his halftime interview, he made this pronouncement for the second half: “It’s going to take focus, effort and toughness.”
The Bears heard the coach’s message loud and clear, finishing the next 25 minutes with a 19-17 lead on the boards and limiting the Lions to seven offensive rebounds.
The improved rebounding results over that time frame also took away Columbia’s strength in second chance points, going from 13 in the opening half to eight for the rest of the game.
Strong two-point and free-throw shooting
Since Bruno couldn’t buy a bucket from beyond the arc on Saturday, going a paltry 1-for-13 (7.7%), the team had to make hay from inside the arc and at the charity stripe.
All day long, Brown kept pushing towards the basket looking for open shooters, ultimately connecting on 63.6% (28-for-44) of its attempts from two.
While Columbia’s defense allowed an average of 18.5 free throw attempts a game and arrived with the No. 85 team in the land in free throw rate (31.5%), the Bears got to the free throw line early and often.
Bruno relentless forward momentum got the team 12 attempts in the opening half and ten in the second half. Despite playing an extra session in a very physical game, the Bears kept up their offensive pressure and got to the line 12 more times.
In the end, Bruno had 34 attempts, connecting on 27 (79.4%), and a free throw rate of 46.5%.
On the other end, the Lions did go 9-for-12 (75%) in the second half but could only manage a combined 3-for-9 (33.3%) result in the first half and overtime.
Landon Lewis and Jeremiah Jenkins
Lewis, Brown’s 6-foot-8 starting forward, missed the first five games of the season, then had to sit out for the last game against Penn. During those six games, the Bears were 1-5, including the 81-73 defeat at Penn last weekend.
On Saturday, the senior big went off for a career-high 26 points on 10-for-16 (62.5%) shooting from the field and 6-for-9 (66.7%) from the free throw line, as well as nine rebounds.
“It’s been forever since I’ve been in a game like this,” an elated Lewis told the ESPN+/NESN crew. “Being out for a month at the beginning of the season and coming off a concussion, I haven’t been this excited in years. It’s a blessing to be out here.”
Not to be outdone was Jenkins, who has taken over the backcourt from all-time great Kino Lilly Jr.
The 6-foot guard from nearby New Brittan, Conn. took home KenPom MVP honors with an almost triple-double stat line of 14 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, as well as four steals.
Miles Franklin
While Noland was key for Columbia, leading the team with 18 points on 58% (7-for-12) shooting over 33 minutes of action, the loss of the Lions first year guard Miles Franklin that may have been a bigger factor in the team’s defeat.
The reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week went out with an apparent left shoulder injury at the 8:19 mark of the first half, but he returned five minutes later. At the 9:53 mark of the second half, however, he was sent to the ground in pain with an apparent right shoulder injury after colliding with junior forward N’famara Dabo, who had set a screen.
Franklin only returned for 10vseconds around the two-minute mark of the second half.
Before his first trip to the bench, the Vienna, Va. native was a key factor in the Lions offense, connecting on four of six shots for nine points in under eight minutes. However, he was much less an offensive option when he returned, taking only four shots in a little over seven minutes and missing all of them.
It is impossible to determine whether a healthy Franklin would have led the Lions to victory, but it is certainly a possibility.
What’s next
Brown looks to make it two-in-a-row when it welcomes Cornell (7-9, 0-3) to the Pizzitola Sports Center on Monday at 2 p.m , while Columbia looks to get back to winning in a battle against Yale (13-3, 2-1), the conference’s preseason favorite, at the same time.
