Columbia
PENN
Hot-Shooting Lions Pull Past Penn
2/7/2015 9:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BOX SCORE (.html) | BOX SCORE (.pdf)
NEW YORK – The Columbia men's basketball team started the game on a 19-4 run and never looked back, cruising to an 83-56 victory over Penn on Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd in Levien Gymnasium.
The win marked Columbia's largest Ivy League win since January 30, 2004, when the Lions defeated Dartmouth 78-42.
Columbia knocked down five triples during its rally in the first eight minutes of the half. The Lions continued to roll and extended the margin to 34-14 after a Chris McComber trifecta with 6:08 to go. Jeff Coby capped the stanza with a putback to send Columbia into the locker room with a 46-19 advantage.
The second half was much of the same, as the Lions extended the lead to 33 points, 59-26 with 14:22 to play. Penn put together a short run right after the under eight minute media timeout, cutting the lead to 24 with 4:24 remaining. Columbia answered with a layup by Kyle Castlin, and free throws by Maodo Lo and Cory Osetkowski to push the lead back out to 30. Three free throws by Darnell Foreman dictated the final 83-56 margin.
Columbia shot 55.3 percent from the floor and 57.7 percent from the three, hitting 15-of-26 three pointers for the game. The Lions had four players in double figures including Lo's team-high 16 points. Penn's Sam Jones led all players with 23 points after hitting seven threes, including five in the second half.
Castlin finished with 13 points, while Osetkowski andn McComber finished with 11 and 10 respectively.
The Lions held a 35-24 rebounding margin and totaled 16 assists to Penn's nine.
Columbia will hit the road to take on Harvard on Friday, February 13 at 6 p.m. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
