Brown Falls to Cornell, Is Season Slipping Away?
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Brown Falls to Cornell, Is Season Slipping Away?
Brown has seven games left in the season — just two at home and five on the road.
The top four teams in the Ivy League make the conference tournament. Presently, Brown is one of three teams tied for 5th
"It was a tough loss," Brown head coach Mike Martin said. "We certainly played well enough to win the game, we put ourselves in position. Our second half defense just wasn't as good as it needed to be, especially in the paint."
Paxson Wojcik led the way for the Bears with a career-high 22 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists. Kino Lilly Jr. had 17 points and four assists, while Nana Owusu-Anane had nine points, 12 boards, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Brown's defense held Cornell to just 26.9% (7-for-26) shooting from three, well below the Big Red's season average of 37.9%.
The Bears started the game fast and quickly took a five-point lead not even four minutes into the game off a three from Lilly.
Brown, who led for the majority of the opening half, would take back the lead at the halftime buzzer thanks to a three from Wojcik. The Bears led 35-33 at the break.
Brown twice pushed its lead to six during the second half, each time off a three from Wojcik and Lilly.
Down six with 14:44 to play, Cornell used a 16-5 run over the next four minutes to open up a five-point lead of its own. The Big Red eventually pushed their advantage to nine at 72-63 with 5:15 to play.
But the Bears would go on to score 10 of the next 13 points to pull back within two at 75-73 with three minutes remaining. Unfortunately for Brown, the Bears would not score again for the remainder of the game as Cornell closed out the victory.
"Disappointing," Martin said. "But certainly, we'll learn from it and come back and respond next weekend."
Brown will play a pair on the road next weekend at Dartmouth on Friday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m., before traveling to Harvard for a 6 p.m. tip on Saturday, Feb. 4.