BRONX, N.Y. — Columbia men's basketball's long-awaited return to the court was spoiled by a big opening period by Fordham, who claimed a 77-67 victory at Rose Hill Gym Tuesday night. The Lions were led by first-year Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa, who finished with 16 points, going 6-of-14, from the floor and adding five rebounds in his collegiate debut.
 
Fordham shot the lights out, knocking down seven of its first 10 tries to build a 17-9 advantage at the 15:30 mark of the first half. A 3-pointer from Kyle Rose gave the Rams their first double-digit advantage of the half and later led by as many as 22 with 1:49 left in the frame. Rubio De La Rosa capped the first half with a pull-up triple from the top of the arc to make it 49-33 at the break.
 
Darius Quisenberry scored 22 of his 26 points in the first 20 minutes and knocked down all six of his 3-pointers before intermission. Ike Nweke was featured early and often and had 11 quick points, but was held off the scoresheet in the second half while battling through foul trouble.
 
Defensively, the Lions stepped up and limited Fordham to 26.9-percent shooting from the field and 1-of-10 from downtown. However, Columbia could not quite put a run together they pulled within nine after a Liam Murphy put-back with 57 seconds on the clock.
 
The difference in the game was the Rams ability to capitalize off of the Lions' turnovers, scoring 20 points off of 16 miscues.
 
Fordham's Chuba Ohams finished with a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Murphy also scored in double-figures with 13 points, going 6-of-10 from the floor.
 
Columbia's home opener is set for Friday, November 12 against Marist. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. Tickets are available by visiting gocolumbialions.com/tickets or calling 888-LIONS-11. For venue policies at Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium, click here.

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