Over the weekend, the men’s basketball team (14-12, 6-7 Ivy) faced off against Harvard (11-15, 6-7) and Dartmouth (14-12, 8-5). Both of these away games were crucial to the Bears’ uphill battle for a spot in Ivy Madness.
On Friday, the Bears — currently slotted in fifth place in Ivy League standings — started strong, storming back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to defeat Harvard 59-52 in Cambridge. But on Saturday in New Hampshire, Brown was unable to replicate that success and fell 78-58 to Dartmouth.
After these two games, it seems unlikely that the Bears will qualify for Ivy Madness.
But “nothing is guaranteed,” Aaron Cooley ’25 wrote in an email to The Herald.
In Friday’s high-stakes game against Harvard, the Bears jumped out to a 12-7 lead in the first eight minutes. But the Crimson fought back, closing the half with a 26-15 run. By the time the teams headed for the locker rooms, Harvard held a six-point advantage.
Just five minutes into the second half, Harvard managed to extend its lead to 10 points. But the Bears tightened the defensive screws, only letting the Crimson secure 10 more points during the rest of the night. Forcing 12 turnovers, Brown’s efforts on the defensive end opened the door for a dominant Bruno comeback.
With less than eight minutes left, Lyndel Erold ’25 snatched an offensive rebound to score a putback layup, giving Brown their first lead of the second half.
They never trailed again.
In the final three minutes, Landon Lewis ’26 scored eight points — just one short of the nine points he scored that game — to help cement the 59-52 win.
“We knew it was a sink-or-swim, life-or-death kind of game,” wrote Cooley, who led the team with 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting. “It was a gritty game that came down to who wanted it more.”
Brown won the rebound battle 36-30 and forced five more turnovers than Harvard.
There aren’t “many more opportunities I’ll have to play basketball close to home in Boston,” wrote Cooley, a senior from Roxbury, Massachusetts. “I just wanted to put on for my fellow friends and loved ones who pulled up to watch the show.”
On Saturday, Brown started the game on another hot streak. Displaying their defensive prowess, the Bears held Dartmouth scoreless for the first five minutes. Offensively, Brown exploited the Big Green’s lapse and claimed an early 9-0 lead.
But Dartmouth did not go down easy. Over the next 13 minutes, the Big Green fought back until they claimed a narrow three-point advantage with just over two minutes to go until halftime. Lewis — who led all players in scoring with 22 points — responded with back-to-back layups to put Bruno up by one to close out the half.
But in the second half, Brown was unable to contain Dartmouth’s offense, which gave the Big Green 48 of its 78 total points. The Bears also struggled at the free-throw line, shooting just 2-for-14 in the game compared to Dartmouth’s 22-for-26. This disparity proved decisive, as the 20-point disparity made the difference in the 78-58 loss.
With just one more game to go in the regular season, the Bears need a miracle to sneak into the Ivy League’s final playoff spot.
A home matchup against first-seeded Yale awaits the Bears on Saturday — a game they must win to have any hope of making Ivy Madness. For the seniors, it will be their final regular season game in the Pizzitola Sports Center, and if the Bears do not make Ivy Madness, it will be their final game in a Brown uniform.
In this final game, Cooley hopes to “leave the jersey better than (he) found it.”
“I just hope that in my four years here I reshaped the culture and brought upon a joy to the Brown University campus that hadn’t been felt before,” he added. “This last game will be a testimony to that.”
Gus Bailey is a senior staff writer covering the sports beat. He is a sophomore studying applied math-economics. His interests include data analytics, marketing, social media and of course, sports.
