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Brown University
8-19, 3-10
Columbia
21-9, 10-3
Hobbie's 23 Points Not Enough, Columbia Holds On For 66-63 Win Over Brown
3/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
New York, N.Y. – Brown junior JR Hobbie (Spring Lake, NJ) hit seven treys in scoring a career high 23 points, but it wasn't enough as Columbia withstood a furious late challenge by Brown to hold on for a 66-63 Ivy League win over the Bears Friday evening at Levien Gymnasium. Maodo Lo paced the Lions with 23 points.
Trailing for the last 11 minutes of the game, but never by more than six points, Brown came roaring back and cut Columbia's lead to one point, 64-63, on two free throws by senior Cedric Kuakumensah (Worcester, MA) with 1:05 left in the game.
After a steal by Brown sophomore Jason Massey (Cooper City, FL) with 13 seconds remaining, Bears' junior Steven Spieth (Dallas, TX) drove to the basket with 4.4 seconds remaining, but was unable to convert. Grant Mullins hit two free throws for the Lions with three seconds remaining to ice the game.
Hobbie's seven treys are a career high and rank eighth in the Brown record. Hobbie, who had been in a recent shooting slump, found his long-range stroke by connecting on his first six treys and finished the game with 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
Kuakumensah, the Ivy League's leading rebounder, topped the Bears with 10 rebounds, while scoring eight points and blocking four shots.
Freshman Obi Okolie (Ajax, Ontario) scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Bears, while Massey also chipped in with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.
The Bears were without the services of junior point guard Tavon Blackmon (Upper Marlboro, MD), the Ivy League's leader in assists, who missed the game due to injury.
Lo's 23 points came on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point range. Jeff Coby had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Lions, while Nate Hickman came of the bench to score 10 points.
The opening eight minutes of the game belonged to Hobbie, who accounted for all of Brown's scoring with a trio of treys to give the Bears a 9-8 lead.
A 14-2 Columbia run, sparked by two treys by Alex Rosenberg gave the Lions a 22-11 advantage with 6:21 left in the half.
The Bears offense started to click and finished the half with a 7-2 run, capped off by a lay-up by freshman Obi Okolie, to cut the Lions' led to 28-26 at intermission. Hobbie's 12 first half points led all scorers.
The Lions took a six-point lead in the first three minutes of the second half, 37-31,
Hobbie continued the hot hand with two more treys and Brown grabbed a 41-40 lead on a layup by Massey with 13:57 left to play.
With the score tied, 43-43, Columbia took the lead for good, 44-43, with 11 minutes remaining on a free throw by Nate Hickman, and finished the 6-0 spurt with a lay-up by Lo to pull ahead, 49-43, with 9:36 left on the clock.
Brown concludes its season tomorrow evening in Ithaca, New York, facing Cornell in a 6:00 pm start.
