HANOVER, N.H. — Friday night's game between Columbia and Dartmouth was not for the faint of heart. The Lions led by six with 6:50 left in regulation, but were held scoreless for the remainder of the contest and Aaryn Rai converted on a layup to give the Big Green a 65-63 victory.
 
Mike Smith led the way for Columbia (6-17, 1-6) with 18 points, four assists and two steals. Jack Forrest added 14 points and Jake Killingsworth posted a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Ike Nweke put Columbia on top, 63-57, with a turnaround jumper, but Chris Knight picked up the next four before both teams were held without a bucket over the next three-plus minutes. Knight broke the drought with another layup and Ian Sistare knotted things up with 50 seconds remaining.
 
After another empty possession, Dartmouth (8-14, 1-6) called timeout with 20 seconds remaining and worked the clock all the way down when Wes Slajchert dumped the ball to Rai, who turned and laid it in with 0.2 seconds remaining.
 
The first half featured runs by both teams in a back-and-forth battle. The Big Green used a 12-2 spurt to go up by seven less than four minutes in. Columbia responded with 13 unanswered after the first media timeout to go up 18-12 at the 10:52 mark.
 
Knight took over for Dartmouth, netting eight points to spark a 12-0 spurt to put his team up six with 7:57 left in the frame before back-to-back triples from Tai Bibbs and Forrest knotted things up at 24-24. The Lions continued their surge with eight-straight to cap a 14-0 run over a span of 4:22 to take an eight-point lead with 3:23 before the break.
 
James Foye beat the first-half buzzer from beyond the arc to cut the Lions lead down to 38-34.
 
Knight finished with 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the floor. Rai had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Columbia went 16-for-16 from the foul line, but the Big Green outscored the Lions, 42-24, in the paint.
 
The Lions wrap up the weekend at Harvard on Saturday, February 15 for a 7 p.m. contest. Fans can catch all the action on ESPN+.
 
Tickets for upcoming home games are available 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.