Aaron Cooley’s Game Winner Extends Win Streak to Six, Men’s Basketball Defeat Top Ranked Yale 84-81

Saturday, March 9

New Haven, Conn.

12 p.m.

Brown University

12-17,8-6Ivy League

Yale

20-9,11-3Ivy League

OT 1

Brown

Yale

Photo by: Yale Athletics

Aaron Cooley’s Game Winner Extends Win Streak to Six, Men’s Basketball Defeat Top Ranked Yale 84-81

3/9/2024 2:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A storybook end to the regular season as the Bears erased a 15-point deficit to defeat No. 1 Yale (20-9, 11-3 Ivy) 84-81 in overtime on Saturday afternoon at John J. Lee Amphitheater. Brown (12-17, 8-6 Ivy) extends its win streak to six, the longest in league play since the 2007-08 season, and defeated Yale in New Haven for the first time since Jan. 15, 2010.

Aaron Cooley's contested three-pointer sealed the win for Brown, but before the shot, Kalu Anya forced a second Yale turnover in the closing seconds. The Bulldogs entered as one of the nation's best at taking care of the basketball, and Brown remained true to form, outrebounding Yale 39-26 (16-6 on the offensive glass), leading to 21 second-chance points.

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Before overtime, Nana Owusu-Anane drained a corner triple in the waning seconds of the second and he and Kino Lilly Jr. dominated the second, combining for 26 points.

Lilly Jr. finished with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting and added two steals, Owusu-Anane collected 20 points, Anya garnered 11 rebounds and Alexander Lesburt Jr. finished with 10 points, all in the first half.

The win gives Brown eight Ivy wins for the second time under Mike Martin '04 (2019-20).

FIRST HALF
Despite Yale shooting 75 percent for half of the opening stanza, Brown cut the Bulldogs lead to six as the Bears dominated the glass early.

Brown cut the Yale lead to 35-31 after Malachi Ndur's offensive rebound that led to a Kino Lilly Jr. three-pointer with 3:53 to go. To that point, Brown had eight offensive rebounds to Yale's one and collected 10 second-chance points. Owusu-Anane followed with a pair from the line to make it a one-possession game.

A late three by senior August Mahoney extended the Bulldogs lead to 43-36 at the half. Lesburt Jr. led all scorers with 10 and his five rebounds, along with Anya (four offensive rebounds), paced the Bears. Lesburt Jr. drained two from long distance.

Owusu-Anane went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe for 10 points.

Lilly Jr. posted seven points, two steals and two assists in the first and Ndur tallied four points, four rebounds, and a block.

SECOND HALF
A quick 6-0 run gave Yale a 51-38 cushion with 17:16 remaining in regulation. Yale led by as much as 15, but the resilient Bears continued to chip away.

Forcing a turnover to regain possession, Anya crashed the boards again and capped a 10-0 Bears run to make it 71-70 with 1:40 remaining.

A contested layup with 1:26 allowed Brown to tie, and Lilly Jr. found Owusu-Anane on the corner to force overtime as the co-captain drained a triple with 38.3 ticks remaining.

Brown closed the second half on a 13-2 run to erase the Yale lead.

OVERTIME
Brown never led throughout the first 40 minutes between the two programs, and the Bears answered back after every Yale bucket.

Lilly Jr.'s step back three with 1:01 remaining knotted the ballgame at 81-all and Cooley's dagger, sure to be featured on #scTop10, put an exclamation point end to Brown's regular season.

NEXT UP
The Bears will be the No. 4 seed in Ivy Madness and take on the top seed on Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m. in New York City and take on Princeton. Details about the open shootaround and media availability from Jonathan Schiller Court in Francis S. Levien Gymnasium on Columbia University's campus will follow.

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