Big Red Holds Off Brown 72-63

Big Red Holds Off Brown 72-63

Coming off of a tough loss at Columbia Friday night, the Brown Bears were in Ithaca, New York Saturday for a game at Cornell. The undermanned Bears fought hard for 40 minutes but ultimately came up short 72-63.

Brown got off to a good start thanks to Matt Sullivan’s 17 first half points. Sullivan (21 points) went 5 for 5 from three in the first half keeping the Bears close at the break down 38-36.

But the Big Red had a few shooters who were lighting it up from downtown as well. Johnathan Gray (16 points, 9 rebounds), Chris Wroblewski (15 points, 8 assists) and Drew Ferry (11 points) combined to shoot 10 for 17 from beyond the arc helping the home team hold the Bears at bay.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Cornell opened up the second half on a 15-1 run to take a 53-37 lead with 16:39 to play. Brown battled back trimming the deficit to 6 at 66-60 with 2:39 to play. But the Bears would get no closer.

Stephen Albrecht was the only other Brown player to finish in double figures scoring all 11 of his points in the second half. Andrew McCarthy, Jean Harris and Josh Biber each scored 7. For Biber, that matches his career-high. Tyler Ponticelli had a solid outing with 5 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Ponticelli also played “point-forward” as he brought the ball up against Cornell’s full-court pressure defense.

The win lifted Cornell to (10-12) overall and (5-3) in the Ivy League. Brown falls to (7-18) and (1-7) in Ivy play. The Bears are hoping to get point guard Sean McGonagill back from his concussion next weekend when they travel to Harvard to take on the 21st-ranked Crimson Friday night.