NEW YORK – Mike Smith led five players in double-figures with 19 points and a career-high nine assists as the Columbia men's basketball team picked up a 75-63 victory over Binghamton Wednesday night. The Lions (1-2) knocked down a season-high 11 3-pointers, while holding the Bearcats to 7-of-23 shooting from downtown.
 
Randy Brumant tallied 16 points, tying a career-best, to go with 10 boards and two blocks. Jack Forrest was 4-for-4 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points off the bench. Ike Nweke tallied 11 points and six boards in 19 minutes and Jake Killingsworth chipped in 10.
 
"This was a good bounce-back game for us," said head coach Jim Engles. "We lost two tough games on the road and it was nice to come home and hit some shots. We did a pretty good job defensively and got some really good performances with Randy (Brumant) getting a double-double, Mike (Smith) distributing the ball and Jack Forrest hitting 3's. We're still learning a lot, (but) the one thing we're learning is that we're a resilient group. We don't dwell on things and we come back and keep playing. We're displaying some toughness and I think that's a positive for us moving forward."
 
Trailing 23-21, Columbia ripped off an 11-2 run, sparked by seven points from Nweke, to go up 34-25 with 2:14 left in the first half. The Bearcats (0-3) trimmed the deficit to 37-33 at the break and scored the first five points of the second frame to go up by a point at the 18:46 mark of the second.
 
Tai Bibbs answered with a 3-pointer to put the Lions on top for good on the next offensive possession and used more sharpshooting to pull away at the midway point of the half. Killingsworth converted from beyond the arc and Forrest hit back-to-back triples to give Columbia a 58-46 advantage with 9:51 to play.
 
The Lions went on to lead by as many as 17 points after a Smith triple with 2:50 on the clock to improve to 9-3 in its last 12 home openers.
 
Sam Sessoms led Binghamton with 23 points. George Tinsley recorded 10 points and 11 boards.
 
The Lions will return to the road to face No. 9 and defending NCAA Champions, Virginia, Saturday, November 16 at 1 p.m. The contest is part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament campus round games. Fans can also catch the action live on the ACC Network.
 
Tickets for upcoming home games can be purchased by visiting gocolumbialions.com/tickets or calling 888-LIONS-11.

For the latest on the Columbia men's basketball, follow @CULionsMBB on Twitter and Instagram, and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.