Dec. 8, 2007

Box Score

NEW YORK, N.Y. - With a game-high 22 points, junior Andrew Brown led four Leopards in double figures to surpass Columbia 78-46 on Saturday afternoon at Levien Gymnasium. Paul Cummins matched his season-high scoring 12 points and Ted Detmer set a new season-high with 11 points. Bilal Abdullah finished the afternoon with 11 points.

Columbia (3-6) jumped out to an early five-point lead at 17:34 in the first before Lafayette (6-3) captured the 8-7 advantage, following a jumper by Cummins scored between two trey's from Brown (16:28). John Armstrong regained the lead, 9-7 with a layup for Columbia before the Leopards went on to score the next eight points. Detmer started with a jumper and went 2-for-2 at the line and added another basket to go along with a layup from Everest Schmidt to take the 16-9 lead at 11:42.

Just under three minutes remaining in the first half, Lafayette held the three-point advantage (22-19). Cummins beat the buzzer with a trey to cap off a 10-of-12 run that started with a three from Cummins. The run included a layup from Marek Koltun and Detmer converting a three-point play to put the Leopards ahead 35-23 before the break.

Consecutive treys from Brown and Abdullah gave Lafayette its first of three 20 point advantages at 17:18 in the second half. The Leopards would go on to lead by as many as 21 points before Columbia cut the lead to single digits. A three-pointer from John Bova spurred the Lions to score the next 11 points in the second half with a three from K.J. Matsui, John Baumann going 2-for-2 from the line and a three from Brett Loscalzo to make the score 59-49 at 6:28.

Matsui finished the night with a team-high 14 points followed by Loscalzo with 11. Baumann who came into the game averaging 16.8 points failed to make a basket and scored his six points from the line. He went to the line at 4:33 to minimize the Leopards' margin to nine points with a score 62-53.

Sophomore Michael Gruner converted both from the line at 4:15. Cummins followed with a layup and Abdullah sank one from behind the arc to regain a double-digit lead (69-53) with 2:50 remaining. Gruner doled out a career-high eight assists and the Leopards matched a season-high assist mark of 22.

Lafayette shot a season-high 57.4 percent from the floor and handled Columbia's full court pressure well to go on to the 78-64 win.

Men's basketball returns to action on the road against Towson on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. after taking a break from the court to hit the books for final exams.

GAME NOTES:

• Every Leopard stepped onto the hardwood against the Lions with the exception of freshman Jared Mintz, who dressed after sitting out the last five with an ankle injury.

• Andrew Brown scored 20 or more points for Lafayette the second time this season at Columbia (22), the first time was when the Littleton, Colo. native scored 21 against Fairleigh Dickinson.

• This is the third time this season four Leopards finished with double figures in scoring. The last time that occurred this season was the 98-92 loss against Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 16.

• Lafayette approached the line eight times against Columbia, the fewest free-throw opportunities this season. The Leopards went 6-for-8 against the Lions.

• Lafayette set its previous high field-goal percentage mark against another Ivy League institution, Penn on Nov. 28 with 52.6 percent.

• The Leopards are undefeated in afternoon games in 2007-08 season (2-0).