NEW YORK — The Penn men's basketball team got off to a quick start tonight at Columbia's Levien Gymnasium but ultimately lost to the Lions, 56-55, on a late jumper from junior forward Brian Grimes.
The game was closely contested throughout, with Penn (5-19, 4-6 Ivy) bringing a narrow 30-27 lead into halftime.
After the half, Columbia (10-15, 4-7) let sophomore point guard Zack Rosen and the Red and Blue jump out to as much as an eight point advantage, before closing the gap and even taking a 52-51 lead with just 2:59 to go.
Columbia had virulent and vulgar crowd support throughout the contest, but the Quakers were able to maintain their composure and close out the final minutes of a game the majority of which they controlled.
A big three-pointer from junior forward Dan Monckton with just over two minutes left gave the Red and Blue a 54-52 lead, only to see the Lions tie the score on a put-back layup with slightly under a minute remaining.
On the next Quakers possession, junior forward Jack Eggleston drew a foul and made one-of-two free throws to give Penn a 55-54 lead, and Columbia the ball with only 28.4 seconds on the clock.
Columbia freshman forward John Daniels was fouled with 16.6 seconds remaining, and missed both free throws. Eggleston got the rebound and was fouled.
Unfortunately for the Quakers, Eggleston missed the first and Grimes hit his amazing shot.
Despite 16 points, five assists and five rebounds from Rosen, as well 17 points and five rebounds from Monckton, the Red and Blue will head to Ithaca, N.Y., for tomorrow's game at Cornell on the heels of a heartbreaker.
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