Brown Loses Heartbreaker In Final Seconds To Cornell After 21-Point Rally

Brown University Press Release

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brown men’s basketball team fought all the way back from a 21-point deficit early in the second half, but ultimately fell to Cornell 74-72 at the buzzer Sunday afternoon at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

“During the first half, we were really bad,” head coach Mike Martin said. “Both on offense and defense. We dug ourselves a huge hole. Clearly, we did some great things to come back in the game, but those first 21 minutes are part of the game too just like the last 19 minutes.

The Big Red took an 18-point lead into halftime and increased their advantage to 21 with the first bucket of the second, a three at 19:05. From there on out, the Bears outscored them 47-28.

Kino Lilly Jr. tied the game twice down the stretch. With 3:21 to play, Lilly hit a three that knotted the game at 65. Over the next two minutes, Cornell built its lead back to five points, at 72-67. Another three by Lilly cut the deficit to two, and then a layup by the freshman with 32 seconds left on the clock tied things at 72.

On the Big Red’s first go at their next possession, Jaylan Gainey came up big and blocked a shot out of bounds. With three seconds to play, Cornell inbounded the ball to Kobe Dickson, who also had his shot blocked by Gainey, but the rebound fell to Dickson who was able to put in the second-chance bucket for the win.

Lilly led all players in the game with 23 points and added two rebounds and two assists as well. Paxson Wojcik had 16 points, four rebounds, and led the team with three assists. Tamenang Choh, who was in foul trouble for a good portion of the second half, finished with 10 points, four rebounds, and two assists. Gainey had eight points and game-highs in both rebounds (9) and blocks (4).

“We have to be better in the first half,” Lilly said. “We went down big in the first half, dug ourselves a big hole. We’ve got to be better than that.”

Cornell used 53.1% shooting in the first half to build its lead, compared to Brown’s 35.7% first-half mark. On the game, the Big Red shot 42.4%, while the Bears hit 39.0% of their shots.

Cornell was also very efficient from the free throw line, going 20-for-21 (95.2%) on the game, while Brown went 17-for-25 (68.0%).

“I was really proud of our effort in the second half,” Wojcik said. “But there’s no reason why we can’t play with that energy and that spirit for the whole game. We know what we are capable of when we play with that emotion, and we just need to play with it for all 40 minutes.”

The Bears will have a chance to do just that as they head into their final back-to-back weekend of the season next week. Brown will take on Harvard on Friday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. and Dartmouth on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. Both games will be played at the Pizzitola Sports Center.