Brown Loses to Cornell, Giving Up Inside Track at Ivy League Tournament Spot

The Brown men’s basketball team (13-11, 5-6) suffered an 85-81 loss to Cornell (14-10, 6-5) inside the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday evening.

“A ton of credit to Cornell for how they played from the opening tip,” Head Men’s Basketball Coaching Chair Mike Martin ’04 said. “Obviously they started the game fast and we never really slowed them down, we worked really hard and fought like crazy to get back in the game. We took a lead for a short time and got the game tied with under three minutes to go and they went out and won the game in the final three minutes when we got it tied.”

A jump shot from Kino Lilly Jr. tied the game at 79 with 2:58 to go in regulation, after a 4-2 Cornell run, the Big Red held an 83-81 lead as Brown had a chance to tie the game or take the lead. AK Okereke blocked a layup by Lilly Jr. with two seconds remaining to preserve the lead and the game for the Big Red.

Overall, the Big Red led for 38:08 out of 40 minutes, there were four lead changes throughout the contest.

Landon Lewis led all Bears with 20 points on 9-16 shooting from the floor, the junior also corralled six rebounds. Alexander Lesburt Jr. continued his hot stretch from three-point range as he shot 4-7 from distance; he finished with 16 points.

Kino Lilly Jr. dished out a career-high 11 assists in the loss, Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson tallied 14 points as all five Brown starters scored in double figures. Aaron Cooley rounded out the Brown starting five with 10 points and five rebounds.

N’famara Dabo matched a career-high with five blocks, it was the second time in four games the sophomore rejected at least five shots.

Cornell out rebounded Brown 43-33, the Big Red also grabbed 21 offensive rebounds which resulted in 19 second chance points. Brown controlled the paint as they outscored Cornell 46-30.

Brown will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 28 when they travel to Harvard, tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m. inside Lavietes Pavilion.