Entering this weekend, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams ranked in fifth place within the Ivy League. With only four games to go, they each needed a victory to qualify for the postseason.
Yet on an unlucky Saturday for the Bears, both teams suffered crushing defeats. The men’s team fell 85-81 to Cornell, the current fourth seed in the Ivy League, and the women’s team lost 60-57 to Harvard, the second seed in Ivy League rankings.
Men’s basketball falls in last-second thriller versus Cornell
With seconds left in the game, the men’s basketball team (13-11, 5-6 Ivy) trailed two points behind Cornell (14-10, 6-5 Ivy). As the clock wound down, the Pizzitola Sports Center’s packed crowd watched the Bears’ final effort to try to steal the game and grasp a fourth-straight home victory.
With the game on the line, the Bears placed their hopes on the program’s most prolific three point shooter: Kino Lilly Jr ’25, whose 323 career threes have cemented him in Brown history as an all-time great. Unfortunately for Brown, Lilly’s layup attempt was denied by Cornell’s AK Okereke. Netting two free throws after a Brown foul, the Big Red clinched the 85-81 victory.
“A ton of credit to Cornell for how they played from the opening tip,” Head Coach Mike Martin ’04 said in a statement to Brown Athletics. “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,” Martin said, referencing a jumper by Lilly Jr. that tied the game at 79-79 with 2:58 left. But then Cornell was able to score four points in quick succession, putting the win just out of Brown’s reach.
Following the loss, Brown ranks fifth in Ivy League play. With only three more face-offs until Ivy Madness, the Bears must collect more wins than either Princeton or Cornell, who both have six Ivy victories. But facing the top two teams in the last two weeks of the season — Yale (18-6, 11-0 Ivy) and Dartmouth (13-11, 7-4 Ivy) — will not be an easy task.
Senior Night at the Pizz — women’s basketball vs Harvard
Despite an impressive effort on Saturday that featured a 17-point performance from Grace Arnolie ’26, the women’s basketball team (10-14, 4-7 Ivy) suffered a heartbreaking 60-57 loss at home against Harvard (20-3, 9-2 Ivy).
Saturday marked the team’s last home game of the season, with The Bears honoring senior-duo Isabella Mauricio ’25 and Gianna Aiello ’25. Mauricio has certainly left her mark on College Hill as one of the Bears’ best three-point shooters in recent history.
During her freshman year, Mauricio set the record for most three-pointers made by a freshman in program history at 70 three-pointers. As a sophomore, she led the Bears with 54 three-pointers; when she hit the same amount of triples as a junior, she finished second among the team.
“Super disappointed that we didn’t pull off this great win especially for our senior class,” Head Coach Monique LeBlanc said in a statement to Brown Athletics. “We certainly wanted to get them a really big win on their home court today, and fell just short.”
Despite the loss, the Bears started Saturday’s contest off strong, shooting at an efficient rate of 42% from the floor and 44% from three. Fueled by a combined 17 points from Aiello, Mady Calhoun ’26, Beth Nelson ’26, Grace Arnolie ’26, Aima Ofunrein ’28 and Olivia Young ’27, the Bears held a four point lead over the Crimson after the first quarter.
The second quarter featured more of the same for Brown, who went toe-to-toe with Harvard on the scoreboard. After both teams produced a 14-point second quarter, the Bears narrowly led 31-27 at the half.
It was the Crimson’s third-quarter offensive storm that put the Bears behind. Facilitating their offense well and getting high-percentage shots, Harvard outscored Brown 20-12. The Bears, while finding some scoring opportunities from around the arc, could not manage to match the intensity with which the Crimson scored. Bruno entered the fourth trailing 47-43.
In the fourth quarter, Brown doubled down on the defensive, making it much harder for the Crimson to execute their sets and forcing turnovers.
“Our defensive intensity was really high-level,” LeBlanc said. “We were really trying to make it tough to get quality shots at the rim, and I think we did that throughout the game.”
Despite outscoring the Crimson in the final quarter, Harvard’s Elena Rodriguez stifled the Bears’ hopes with a layup seconds before the end of regulation, leading to a 60-57 loss for Brown.
Saturday’s loss reduced the likelihood of the Bears clinching an Ivy Madness spot, as Columbia (19-5, 10-1 Ivy) and Princeton (18-6, 9-2 Ivy) snatched two of the four spots with wins last week. Sitting at fifth place in the Ivy League standings, Brown must now shift their attention to the Ivy League’s top team and their next opponent: Columbia. The Bears will travel to play the Lions on Friday at 4 pm at the Levien Gymnasium in New York City.
Three wins in a row — men’s basketball defeats Columbia on Friday night
On Friday night, a day before the loss to Cornell set back the Bears’ Ivy Madness hopes, the men’s team took a triumphant 86-61 victory over Columbia (12-12, 1-10 Ivy). Friday night’s demolition featured double-digit performances from four separate players, with Alexander Lesbert Jr. ’26 leading the team with 20-points.
From the opening whistle, Brown commanded the game. Lesburt Jr. scored Bruno’s first points with a deep three-pointer, initiating what would turn into a six triple performance. With the help of Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson ’27, who totaled 14 points, the Bears cruised into halftime 42-31.
“Always pleased to win in this league,” Martin said in a message to Brown Athletics. “Every game is such a challenge and we shot the ball pretty well tonight and obviously we started the game terrific on offense.”
The Bears, led by an Aaron Cooley ’25 dunk to initiate the second half, took to the court with a wide lead. With 17:25 to play, Lesburt Jr. and Wrisby-Jefferson combined for 15 points, trading shots back and forth, propelling Brown to a 62-37 advantage.
Over the next 12 minutes, the Bears doubled-down offensively, claiming a game-high 28-point lead with three minutes to go. When the final whistle blew, Brown emerged with a whopping 25-point advantage.
Throughout the contest, Brown whalloped Columbia in almost every statistical category. Winning the points-in-the-paint battle 50-22, leading the field goal battle 35-21 and winning the three-point battle 9-5, the Bears’ offense was too much for the Lions to contain.
Looking ahead, the Bears will face Harvard (10-14, 5-6 Ivy) on Friday at 5 p.m. Both teams have five Ivy League victories and trail just one win behind Cornell and Princeton. Given the tough upcoming match-ups against Dartmouth and Yale, Friday night’s game is a must-win situation if the Bears have any shot at the postseason.
Cooper Herman is a senior staff writer covering sports. He is a sophomore from Alexandria, Virginia studying Economics and International and Public Affairs.
Lydell Dyer is a sports editor for The Herald. A junior hailing from Bonn, Germany, Lydell is studying nonfiction English and political science, and if he's not off "making words sound pretty," you can find him lifting heavy circles at the Nelson.
