Lions Beat The Bears 86-60

Lions Beat The Bears 86-60

Brown men’s basketball coach would prefer not to talk about the rash of injuries his team has sustained but he has little choice. It’s like the elephant in the middle of the room – everyone knows that it’s there.

The 2011-2012 Bears have been hit hard by injuries and this weekend they may have received the most damaging blow. Sophomore point guard Sean McGonagill did not make the trip to Columbia Friday night for Brown’s game against the Lions. He suffered a concussion in the team’s last game against Penn last Saturday and has not yet been cleared to play.

McGonagill, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, is the man that makes the Brown offense go. He leads the team in points (14.0/gm), assists (5.7/gm) and is second on the team in rebounding (5.3/gm).

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With that as the back drop, the Bears visited Columbia Friday night hoping to upset the Lions without him. The game plan without McGonagill was simple - slow it down, and shorten the contest by using patience on offense. It didn’t work. Columbia defeated the Bears 86-60.

The game plan was a solid one but it would only work for Brown if they could keep the Lions within striking distance which they could not with their 2-3 zone defense.

Columbia tied a school record with 16 three’s (16 of 29) and hit many of them in the game’s opening minutes to open up a double-digit lead.

Chris Crockett (18 points) led the onslaught nailing 6 trifectas. Meiko Lyles (17 points) hit 5. Lions point guard Brian Barbour also did a good job of controlling the game with 16 points and 9 assists for the home team.

Brown was led by Matt Sullivan’s 17 points. Jean Harris had 14 and Telef Lundevall poured in a career-high 12. But the Bears could not contain the Lions and lost for the 4th consecutive game.

The Bears (7-17 overall, 1-6 Ivy League) travel to Ithaca, New York to take on the Big Red of Cornell Saturday night at 7pm.

NOTES:

-Columbia suffered what was thought to be a big blow early this season when their leading scorer and best player – Noruwa Agho – went down to injury and was lost for the season. Surprisingly, the team rallied in Agho’s absence rattling off 7 straight wins and 11 of 12 during one stretch. Included in those victories were some quality wins against teams having good seasons like Manhattan (17-9), Loyola-Marymount (16-9) and LIU (18-7).

-Matt Sullivan ran the point in McGonagill’s absence. The junior co-captain played point guard for the Bears as a freshman as well.

-Junior forward Tyler Ponticelli was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll for his play last weekend at home. Ponticelli had 13 points and 6 rebounds against Princeton last Friday and followed that up with a 10-point, 5-rebound performance against Penn on Saturday.

-The game of the night in the Ivy League on Friday featured first place Harvard at the Palestra in Philadelphia where they battled the Penn Quakers. The 21st-ranked Crimson (21-2 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) defeated Penn 56-50.