NEW YORK- Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa scored a game-high 21 points but Columbia men's basketball fell to Harvard, 83-65, on Friday night at Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
 
De La Rosa's night got off to a hot start. The sophomore guard cracked double-figures early on, scoring his 11^th point with 13:16 left in the opening frame. De La Rosa has scored in double-digits in nine out of the team's 11 Ivy League games this season.
 
"Geronimo was great today," head coach Jim Engles said. "He's played very consistently both offensively and defensively. He just gives it 100 percent every game. I'm really proud of him. He's made huge strides from his first year to his sophomore season."
 
De La Rosa has now dropped 20 points or more in a game for the third time this season. Blair Thompson is the only other Lion to score 20 or more points in a game in 2022-23. Friday night's offensive display was tied for the most points De La Rosa has posted in a home game this season.
 
"Geronimo makes the game pretty easy for us as a team," teammate Avery Brown said. "He's a shot-maker and he makes plays. You couldn't really ask much more from him."
 
Also contributing early on was Zine Eddine Bedri. The first year forward combined with De La Rosa for the Lions' first 12 points of the contest. Bedri, Liam Murphy, and Jake Tavroff all finished with eight points.
 
Columbia (6-20, 1-10) kept the score in single-digits all the way through the first 20 minutes of play. Harvard out-rebounded Columbia 32-10 in the first half and took a 46-38 lead into the break.
 
Harvard (13-12, 4-7) gave itself more of a cushion when it took a 57-42 lead with 15:13 to go in the game after starting the final period on an 11-4 run. Chisom Okpara led Harvard with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Chris Ledlum, Justice Ajogbor, and Idan Tretout also added double-figures scoring for the Crimson. Ledlum pulled in a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Columbia went cold in the second half after hanging with the Crimson through the first 20 minutes. The Lions shot 10-of-31 from the field (32.3 percent) and 2-of-12 from three-point range (16.7 percent) in the second half. Overall, the Lions shot 37.9 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from long distance.
 
The Crimson totaled 17 second chance points and brought in 18 offensive rebounds on Friday night. Overall, Columbia was out-rebounded 52-26.
 
"It's what we've been focusing on," Engles said. "We try to address it every day. We need to make sure we develop it. That's something we're trying to work on. When we don't rebound, we put ourselves in a bad spot. I thought we defended well on the first shots but on the second shots not as much."
 
The Lions tallied 17 assists and only had 10 turnovers in the loss. Zavian McLean added a team-high five assists and Tavroff pulled in a team-best five rebounds. Columbia is back in action Saturday night when Dartmouth comes to Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Tickets can be purchased here.
 
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