On Friday night, the men’s basketball team (9-17, 3-10 Ivy) saw its postseason hopes officially come to an end, falling 80-62 to Columbia (16-11, 5-8) in New York City. The next day, the team lost again to Cornell (14-12, 7-6) 86-80.
Despite sitting at last place in the Ivy League standings, Brown entered the weekend on a two-game winning streak following a thrilling home win against Princeton last week. Bruno came out sharp against the Lions, looking to secure their third straight victory.
Brown won the opening tip, and guard Luke Paragon ’27 drilled a three-pointer immediately after. Following several empty possessions and turnovers from both sides, Columbia finally broke through with a layup to get on the board. Guard Isaiah Langham ’29 and Paragon answered with strong takes to the rim to keep the Bears in front at 7-2.
Less than eight minutes into the game, guard Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson ’27 showed off his slick footwork in the paint, spinning past his defender and scoring just before the shot clock expired. Columbia responded with two drives of their own, but Paragon drew contact on a desperation three and calmly knocked down all three free throws to make the score 13-10 Bears.
Moments later, Paragon finished through traffic off of an impressive cross-court pass from guard Jeremiah Jenkins ’28.
As back-and-forth play continued, Langham added an and-one finish after Columbia missed a three. But he couldn’t convert the free throw, and the score read 26-19 Bruno with under five minutes to play in the first half.
The Lions responded with a three-pointer, but guard Adrian Uchidiuno ’27 countered with a smooth spin move and a clean jumper. With just over a minute left in the half, forward Landon Lewis ’26 floated a goal in after charging toward the basket.
Not going down without a fight, Columbia closed the half with a cross-court inbound pass that led to a buzzer-beating three-pointer, trimming Bruno’s lead to just 32-31. The late bucket marked a clear shift in momentum in favor of the Lions.
The Lions opened the second half with a seven-point run. But Brown responded with an 11-point surge of their own, highlighted by a crafty jumper from Wrisby-Jefferson that left a defender stumbling and a thunderous dunk from Langham sparked by a Wrisby-Jefferson steal.
Columbia reclaimed a 48-43 advantage, and Bruno’s offense stalled. Brown went nearly four minutes without a basket before Langham finally found an open lane for a layup.
Trailing 48-45 with a little over 10 minutes remaining, Brown struggled to keep pace. The Lions erupted on a 32-17 run to seal the game and officially end the Bears’ Ivy Madness hopes with a crushing score of 80-62.
Brown returned to the court the following night to face Cornell in Ithaca, New York.
Lewis opened the game with a strong layup over his defender. Minutes later, Paragon connected from deep and Wrisby-Jefferson followed with another triple to give Bruno a 10-3 edge.
After Cornell trimmed the deficit to two, Uchidiuno — who finished the game with a career-high 16 points — knocked down a contested jumper. With 12 minutes left in the first half, Lewis split two defenders for an and-one opportunity but missed the free throw.
The Big Red continued to chip away at Bruno’s lead, knocking down a pair of three-pointers to stay within striking distance. But Brown refused to falter — forward Charlie O’Sullivan ’29 answered with a three of his own from the top of the arc, and Langham added an and-one following another Cornell basket.
Late in the half, forward N’famara Dabo ’27 capitalized on a sloppy Cornell dribble, turning the defense into offense through Wrisby-Jefferson, who fired a cross-court pass to Uchidiuno for a transition layup.
Still, Cornell closed the half at the line, sinking two free throws to take a narrow 46-45 lead heading into the break.
Cornell opened the second-half scoring before Lewis responded with a basket in the paint. Bruno controlled the interior, outscoring the Big Red 18-12 in the paint. But Cornell found their rhythm from the perimeter and pushed the Big Red lead to 14 with just over five minutes remaining.
In the final seconds, Lewis finished off crisp ball movement with nifty footwork around the rim to pull Brown back within four.
Forced to foul, the Bears sent Cornell to the line. The Big Red converted both free throws to secure the 86-80 win, sending Bruno packing.
Brown will look to close out the season with a home win against Penn (15-11, 8-5) on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Pizzitola Sports Center.
Harry Guo is a senior staff writer and on the vertical video and design teams. He is from Andover, Massachusetts, and plans on concentrating in Business Economics and International and Public Affairs. In his free time, he enjoys writing poetry and playing poker.
