NEW YORK – The Columbia men's basketball team picked up an 85-38 win over St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) Sunday afternoon in its home opener. Gabe Stefanini scored a game-high 23 points, knocking down 7-of-9 from 3-point range in the win.

The Lions (1-4) posted 27 assists on 32 made field goals and outrebounded the Bears, 54-26, spearheaded by 19 from sophomore Randy Brumant. Brumant also scored 10 points to notch his first career double-double. Maka Ellis chipped in 15 points to round out Columbia's double-figure scorers.

Jake Killingsworth gave the Lions a 12-0 lead just over three minutes in and a Quinton Adlesh steal led to a transition dunk from Brumant extend the advantage to 20-3 with 15:10 left in the period. Columbia remained in control the rest of the way and Stefanini put a cap on the dominant first 20 minutes with a steal and slam with 1:18 left to put his team on top, 55-19, at the break.

The Lions began the second half on a 14-2 run, completed on a Peter Barba layup with 15:22 to play and never looked back, going up by 50 points twice on makes from Ellis and CJ Davis, who made his first appearance since the 2016-17 campaign while recovering from injury.

"We executed really well," said head coach Jim Engles. "We had 27 assists and thought we passed the ball really well, which is something I was excited to see. Especially as the game wore on, we kept making the extra pass and looking for good shots. I thought the guys who played in the middle (on offense) against the (St. Joseph's) zone played really well. Guys like Jake Killingsworth and Peter Barba did a great job sharing the ball on the perimeter to set up a lot of those 3-pointers today."

The Lions will continue its four-game home stand Sunday, December 2, against Delaware. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here or calling 888-LIONS-11. The game will also be broadcast live on ESPN+.