The men's basketball team dropped both games during its New York road trip this past weekend, falling 61-59 at Cornell on Friday and 77-68 to Columbia on Saturday. The two defeats leave Brown next-to-last in the Ivy League at 2-6 (7-16 overall).
As far as Head Coach Craig Robinson was concerned, his team played two completely different games this weekend, managing to keep one close but getting beaten handily in the other.
"I think in the Cornell game, we played well enough to stay in the game and win it in the end," he said. "Conversely, in the Columbia game, we didn't play well, but we were in it at half. Then we come out after halftime with three straight turnovers, and when you're on the road, you can't play that way."
The first half saw both teams struggle from the field, as the Bears hit just 36.4 percent of their shots - better than the Big Red's 34.5 percent clip. The two teams were tied 25-25 at intermission, but rather than expressing disappointment over the low-scoring first half, Robinson was pleased that his team kept the game close.
"The game (was) very important to us and very important to Cornell," he said. "There was pressure to play well, and whenever you have that pressure, it's tougher to make shots against two good defenses. I call those grind-'em-out games, and it's always nice when you can keep a team around 30."
Brown managed to take a 34-32 lead at the 15:05 mark of the second half, but Cornell responded with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes for a 42-34 advantage. True to the form of several games this season, Bruno would not go quietly and closed the gap to two points several times in the last five minutes.
"It wasn't too damaging to come back from, because teams go on runs," Robinson said. "It's just part of the game. You have to withstand their storm, and if you do that, you'll have one of your own."
Brown had an opportunity to either tie or win the game with 25 seconds remaining when Mark McDonald '08 pulled down the rebound on a missed Big Red shot with the Bears trailing 61-59. Co-captain Mark McAndrew '08, who finished with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds, had an open look from the corner, but his attempt was long, and Brown had another close loss to ponder.
"It was a play that we had set up specifically for him," Robinson said of McAndrew's shot. "He just missed it, but it was exactly where you would want to be. You want to have your best guy with a good look and a chance to win."
The next night at Columbia, Bruno kept the game close for most of the first half, but by the evening's end, the game belonged to the Lions. Taking advantage of sloppy play by the visitors, the hosts broke a 21-21 tie with 2:43 remaining in the opening half and never looked back.
"They converted on our turnovers, and once that happens, you're spending your time catching up," Robinson said. "By turning the ball over and giving up as many offensive rebounds as we did, it's hard to win that way."
Things started to snowball at the start of the second half when Bruno committed three turnovers on its first four possessions. A 28-25 halftime deficit grew to 35-25, and Brown's fate was sealed.
"You go from being down three to being down (10) right there," Robinson said. "(Columbia) did what they had to do and made shots when we had those turnovers. I'm not down on these guys because this is the first time in the trenches for many of these guys."
Robinson said he was pleased with the effort that his team has given on defense in recent weeks. With Harvard and Dartmouth coming to the Pizzitola Center this weekend, he is now hoping that his troops can play with a little more assertiveness.
"I can see that when we start the games, guys are really focused on defense, and we want to keep it that way. Now it comes down to confidence," he said. "I think we have to be confident that we can win those close games. We just have to cut down on the unforced errors, and that comes with confidence."
