PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Columbia men's basketball team held off Brown, 77-73, to preserve a weekend split on Saturday night. Grant Mullins led the way with 25 points on 6-of-9 shooting from long range to help the Lions improve to 16-7 overall and 5-1 in Ivy League play.
It appeared as if Columbia put the game away after taking a 51-40 lead on a layup by Alex Rosenberg, who added 12 points and six boards, with 12:53 left in regulation. However, the Bears (7-13, 2-4) responded with 10-straight and tied the game on a long triple from Kyle Haber.
After the Lions restored a four-point cushion, Brown had and answer again and went ahead, 60-59, at the 6:03 mark after two free throws from Jason Massey.
The teams battled back-and-forth during the next several minutes, trading buckets for the most part until Chris McComber gave Columbia the lead for good, burying a trifecta from the left wing to put the Lions back in front, 70-68, with 1:43 to play.
On the other end, Columbia came up with a key stop and Isaac Cohen was left wide open with Rosenberg occupying the post to make it a four-point game. Cohen responded with a clutch block and the Lions 5-of-6 from the line down the stretch to preserve the victory.
The Lions rode the hot-hand of Mullins, who had 10 of his 16 first half points in the first seven minutes, to help Columbia race out to an 18-9 advantage with 13:36 remaining in the frame. Brown responded with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to three at the midway point, but Lukas Meisner's tip-in restored a 25-18 cushion with 4:30 to play in the half.
After four straight made buckets by Brown evened things up at 28-28 with 2:40 before the intermission, Meisner had the answer once again. The first-year buried a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions and the Lions took a 37-31 advantage after the opening 20 minutes.
The difference in the game came from the foul line with Brown going just 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) and the Columbia converting on 15-of-19 (78.9 percent). The Bears shot 13-of-22 from 3-point range and were led by Steven Spieth, who finished with 21 points and went 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Meisner chipped in 13 off the bench. Maodo Lo continued had three steals to go with nine points and six boards. Lo has 19 steals in his last four games (4.8 per contest).
The Lions will return to the friendly confines of Levien Gymnasium to take on Penn on Friday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by clicking here. Fans can also catch the action live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
