Men’s basketball dominates with Columbia 97-85 victory

On Saturday afternoon, the men’s basketball team (10-9, 3-3 Ivy) defeated Columbia (6-15, 1-5 Ivy) by a score of 97-85. The Bears’ offensive effort was spearheaded by Nana Ousuanan ’25 with 27 points and 18 rebounds that earned him Ivy League Player of the Week honors. Bruno dominated in the 148th meeting between Brown and Columbia with his 73rd victory over the Lions.

Head coach Mike Martin ’04 said at the post-game press conference, “I thought we played right. The players got what the game gave them.” “It gave Nana a lot of chances. He was confident and aggressive. His teammates were looking for him.”

Ousu Annan, Aaron Cooley ’25, Kino Lilly Jr. ’25, Dan Friday ’24 and Paxson Voysik ’23 started the game for Brown. Bruno took an early lead with a 12-0 run after he fell to a quick 6-1 he holed. This run was sparked by Ousuane finding his Wodick cutting his layup reverse and included a thunderous slam his dunk from Friday.

After a back and forth play, Bruno led Colombia 18–16 with 13:07 remaining in the first half. But back-to-back buckets by Owusu-Anane and Landon Lewis ’26 propelled Brown to his 22-16 advantage. Owusu-Anane led the attack from the jump and in his first nine minutes of the contest he scored 15 of 27 points.

“My teammates were really looking for me…I got to the rim and had the opportunity to shoot,” Ousu Anane said at the post-match press conference.

With a minute left in the first half, Brown held a lead of just four points. Owusu-Anane surrounded his own mistake and scored a putback, while Wojcik forced a mistake on his end defensively before reversing his layup to give the Bears his 8-point lead. The Lions hit his 3 in the second half to cut the margin to his 5 points and enter halftime with the score 51-46.

Ousu Ane opened the scoring for Brown to start the second half and hit a layup to give Bruno a 7-point lead. Cooley quickly ignited the Bears’ offense with jumpers and steals, sending him flying into the stands before an explosive 14-point run that Perry Cowan ’23 scored three to extend the lead to 71-50.

“Aaron Cooley gave us an unbelievable spark to start the half, (score) take the bucket, then (dive) a steal (dive) on row five. “Everybody needs to play with that confidence and that edge.”

Owusu-Anane took charge of the game, grabbing two offensive rebounds and fending off two defenders for a layup to give the Bears a 17-point lead, 85-68, with 4:30 remaining.

“He’s bullish,” Martin said of Ousu Ane’s aggressive play. “He’s tough and has an incredible motor.”

The Lions cut the deficit by a few points, but the Bears eventually won by a final score of 97-85.

All five of Brown’s starters, plus Lewis off the bench, scored in double figures for the Bears’ highest scoring streak this season. Owusu-Anane — boasting career-best points and rebounds — had powerful shots that he went 11-23 from the field and 2-5 from his three-point range, helping Bruno to victory. Lily Jr. added his 16 points, his second-most on the team.

“There are a lot of things we can improve on, but we handled the ball aggressively and didn’t turn the ball over,” Martin said. “We shared basketball very well and didn’t give up too many second chance points.”

Bruno shot 39-78 from the field and 6-17 from behind the arc. Notably, the Bears converted on his 13 of his 16 free throw attempts, well above his season average of 59.5% in the charity stripes. The Bears rebounded the Lions to his 41-for-30 record while also recording assists, steals, blocks, and fewer turnovers.

Throughout January, Brown faced five other Ivy League opponents. They split the six games evenly, beating Dartmouth, Princeton and Columbia before losing to Penn, Harvard and Yale.

Lilly Jr. scored 26 points in a close upset with Ivy League top team Princeton, while Owusu Anan contributed everything with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Did. Bruno’s intense play in December and his January saw him ranked fifth in the Ivy League rankings.

The Bears are looking to break the record when they face Cornell on the road Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on his ESPN+.