Men’s Basketball Falls at Buzzer to Yale in Ivy Madness Championship

Sunday, March 17

New York, N.Y.

12 p.m.

Brown University

13-18,8-6Ivy League

Yale

22-9,11-3Ivy League

Brown

Yale

Photo by: Brown Athletics

Men’s Basketball Falls at Buzzer to Yale in Ivy Madness Championship

3/17/2024 2:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Brown men's basketball team fell in a last-second heartbreaker to Yale 62-61 in the Ivy Madness Championship game on Sunday afternoon. The Bears finish the 2023-24 season 13-18 overall and became the first No. 4 seed to advance to the Ivy Madness final.

After Brown matched its largest lead of the game at six points with 27 seconds left, Yale closed the game on an 8-1 run over the final 22 seconds, including scoring the game's final five points over the final 15 seconds to pull out the win, which came on a layup as time expired.

For his performance in this weekend's games, junior guard Kino Lilly Jr. was selected to the All-Tournament Team.

Lilly Jr. scored a game-high 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Sophomore Kalu Anya had 12 points and seven rebounds on 5-of-7 from the floor, and senior Malachi Ndur had 12 points and six rebounds on 5-of-6 shooting. Sophomore Alexander Lesburt Jr. chipped in eight points.

The Bears finished the game 8-for-15 from the free throw line including hitting just one of their last four in the closing 20 seconds.
Lydel Erold drained a three from the corner to spot the Bears an early lead, as both teams started a combined 2-for-10 ans Yale held a 4-3 lead at the first media timeout.

Ndur got a huge block at the rim on defense, which set up Lilly for a pull-up three on the offensive end to pull Brown within 11-8 at the under-12 media timeout with 10:44 to play in the half.

After a Ndur three pulled Brown within two, Yale ran off four straight to hold a 17-11 lead with 7:44 to go. Lesburt hit his first three-pointer to pull Brown within two at 3:43, but Yale used an offensive putback to go back up four, 24-20 prompting a Brown timeout at 2:18.

Anya drove into the lane and rolled in a nifty layup to get Brown within two once again with two minutes to go as Yale carried a 26-22 lead into the locker room.

Yale built their first seven-point lead coming out of the locker room and each team continued to trade buckets and defensive stops through the under-16 media timeout with Yale on top 35-29.

Ndur and Anya took over for Brown and sparked the Bears rally to take the lead, each going 5-for-6 at one point.
Ndur completed the and-one to pull Brown within three, then answered a Yale basket with a breakaway layup off a Lilly assist to pull Brown within 41-37 with 10:45 to play.

NDUR STRONG 💪💪

One possession game once more as Ndur completes the three-point play!

Watch on ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/8rCcexSM55
— Brown Men's Basketball (@BrownU_MBB) March 17, 2024

Right out of the timeout, Lesburt drained a three to pull Brown within one. Anya hit a pair of free throws, Nadur backed down for a layup to tie the score at 44 and Anya used a layup to give Brown its first lead since early in the game as part of a 6-0 run to go ahead 46-44, forcing a Yale timeout with 8:15 to go.

ANYA FOR THE LEAD!!!!

6-0 Brown forces a Yale timeout!

Watch on ESPN2#EverTrue pic.twitter.com/LrruVyVOyP
— Brown Men's Basketball (@BrownU_MBB) March 17, 2024

Ndur helped get the lead back to four with a huge putback ahead of the final media timeout with 3:48 to go. Anya added a layup to make it 54-48 with just under three minutes to go.

Yale pulled within 54-51 with a big three after a turnover in the inbound with 2:08 remaining. Kimo Ferrari found Lesburt for a huge layup to get it back to five before Yale answered with another triple to pull within two with just over a minute to go. Lilly hit two from the line to and sank a jumper to grow the led back to six before Yale's final run.

Gallery: (3-17-2024) Ivy Madness Final vs. Yale

BROWN UNIVERSITY SPORTS FOUNDATION
The Brown University Sports Foundation (BUSF) is the lifeblood of the athletics program, and exists to enhance the student-athlete experience through philanthropic support from alumni, parents, fans and friends. A gift through the Sports Foundation makes an immediate impact on today's Brown Bears and helps them to be their best in the classroom, in competition and most importantly in the community. To learn more about supporting the Bears, please click here.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
For the latest on Brown Athletics, please follow @BrownU_Bears on Twitter, @BrownU_Bears on Instagram, like BrownUBears on Facebook and subscribe to the BrownAthletics YouTube channel.