NEW YORK – Noruwa Agho scored 25 points and Brian Barbour added 21 to help Columbia hold off a late rally by Cornell in a 79-75 win on Saturday night.
Mark Cisco finished with 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds for the Lions (10-5, 1-0 Ivy League), who have won three straight games. Steve Frankoski added 11 points.
Columbia went into halftime with a 37-23 lead. The Big Red rallied in the second half, cutting the Lions' lead to three points on Drew Ferry's 3-pointer with 9:44 left to play.
Chris Wroblewski scored on a layup with 24 seconds remaining to trim the lead to 76-75. But Frankoski answered with two free throws to give Columbia enough cushion to pull away.
Ferry scored 23 points on 7 of 11 shooting from beyond the arc for Cornell (4-11, 0-1). Wroblewski had 14 points and seven assists, while Errick Peck also had 14 points.
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