NEW YORK - Zine Eddine Bedri and Jaden Cooper each had nine points as the Columbia men's basketball team fell to Princeton 68-49 on Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium. Kenny Noland had eight points, while Avery Brown added seven.
 
After a back-and-forth start to the first half, Columbia went cold from the floor and went nearly seven minutes without a bucket. Princeton took advantage and led by as many as 13 in the frame before taking a 36-24 advantage into the break.
 
While Columbia (6-11, 1-1) cut the deficit down to 10 early in the second half, Princeton (11-4, 2-0) would quickly rebuild a lead. The Tigers took its largest lead of the game, 56-32, midway through the frame to go on for the victory.
 
"Definitely a tough game," head coach Jim Engles said. "Obviously, we couldn't make (enough) shots and that makes it really hard. I thought our defense was okay, but we put so much pressure on our defense to keep us in the game, and I thought Princeton did a good job of taking advantage
of opportunities."
 
"So, it's all stuff we can control. We have to continue to work on it and move on. We're doing good things. It's just a matter of putting some pieces together."
 
The Lions struggled shooting, both from the field and the charity stripe. After shooting 70 percent from the free throw line for the season, they were 13-of-23 Friday night. They were only 27 percent from the
field.
 
Columbia was also outscored 44-18 in the paint and outrebounded, 54-36.
 
"That's all physically, and that's what these guys are learning, and we'll push them through it, and they will continue to figure it out'," Engles said. "So, onto tomorrow."
 
Columbia has the second half of a traditional Ivy League back-to-back weekend when it hosts Penn Saturday night on Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium. The game tips at 7 p.m. and tickets can be purchased here and will air on ESPN+.
 
Matt Sugam '23 SPS  has been covering sports in the NY 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 and contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He's covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia SPS. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Visit his website at www.mattsugam.com