NEW YORK - Playing with heavy hearts on Saturday, Columbia fell to Dartmouth 76-63 on Schiller Court at Levien Gym.

With a half dozen roses laid on the end of its bench, the men's basketball team honored Columbia Athletics supporter and Hall of Famer, Gerald (Jerry) Sherwin '55CC, who passed away Saturday morning. The team found out about the Lions' legend's passing at morning shootaround.

"He was Columbia in so many ways," head coach Jim Engles said. "He was always here. We have a blizzard right now and he would have been here. He was just consistent, he always showed up. He's  always been there for Colombia, always there for our guys, always there for the people that have been through here. So it was definitely a tough loss for me. Some of the older guys had a chance to spend some time with him. For our whole community, it's unfortunate. It was just a sad day."

Liam Murphy had a team-high 17 points, including 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Ike Nweke scored 15 points and seven rebounds, while Patrick Harding added 12 points and seven rebounds.

"He was just a complete embodiment every day of doing what you can to contribute to something that's bigger than yourself," Nweke said of Sherwin, who he got to know personally during his first two years on the Morningside campus. "Every day he would show up and sit in the office, chat with the coaches,  be there and just live in the moment. And that was something that I kind of tried to do, but in my two years of seeing him, talking to him and having him around like that was something that I just tried to just get the most out of."

Playing inspired basketball, Columbia (4-13, 1-4 Ivy League)  jumped out to a 10-2 lead. The Lions led much of the first half, before a 3-pointer gave Dartmouth (5-12, 2-4 Ivy League) a 26-25 at the 5:26 mark. 

Columbia would never overcome, trailing 35-30 at the break. The Lions were once again plagued by turnovers, with eight in the first half leading to 11 Dartmouth points.

"We still had too many turnovers in the first half again, and (it prevented us from) creating some flow offensively," Engles said. "It has a tendency to do a little bit with the three-point shooting,  and then in the second half, we have to do a better job at the rim defending."

After trailing by as many as 15 early in the second half, Columbia was able to cut it to 51-44 on a Murphy triple with 10:20 to go. Unfortunately, it's the closest the Lions would get. 

The Lions are back in action for Friday night's Ivy League game on Feb. 4  when they host Penn. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+. 

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

Matt Sugam '23 SPS  has been covering sports in the NYC Metropolitan area for over a decade. He has spent the last eight years covering college and professional sports as a stringer for the Associated Press, while also contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He will be covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia's School of Professional Studies. Follow him on Twitter @MattSugam.