Brown basketball fans got to see two thrillers at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday. Unfortunately for them, the Bears went down to crushing defeats in both contests.

In the first game, senior center Gianna Aiello missed an uncontested layup with four seconds left to pull ahead of Harvard and the women lost 60-57. In the nightcap, senior guard Kino Lilly Jr. broke through two defenders on the left side and went up for a game-tying layup with five seconds on the clock, but Cornell junior forward AK Okereke came from the right side and swatted the ball away to secure the win.

With their 85-81 victory, Jon Jaques’ Big Red (14-10, 6-5 Ivy) ended a four-game losing streak, evened the season series against Bruno (13-11, 5-6) and moved into a tie for third place with Princeton. The loss ended a three-game winning streak for Mike Martin’s Bears and dropped the team into a tie for fifth place with Harvard.

Cornell stretched a two-point lead to seven, 18-11, after a right elbow three from sophomore guard Jacob Beccles, a putback layup from Okereke, and a free throw by senior center/forward Ryan Kiachian.

After a bucket from senior guard/forward Aaron Cooley, back-to-back triples by junior guard Cooper Noard and a layup from senior guard Nazir Williams stretched the Big Red’s lead to 27-15.

A 6-o run by the Bears, initiated by a spinning jumper inside the lane, cut Bruno’s deficit to six at the 10-minute mark.

With Cornell still up six, 38-32, junior forward Landon Lewis hit a left-handed baby hook from the free throw line and junior guard Alexander Lesburt Jr. nailed a three-ball from the left elbow, to make it a one-point game at the 2:43 mark.

The Big Red responded with a 7-1 run, featuring triples by junior guard Adam Hilton and Noard to make it a seven-point contest.

Two Lesburt free throws closed out the first half scoring, leaving Cornell up 45-40.

Cornell arrived as the second-best team in the nation in two-point shooting but could only manage 38% (6-for-16) in the opening 20 minutes. However, the Big Red connected on nine triples with 39% accuracy with Noard going a perfect 4-for-4 and held a +6/+16% advantage on the boards, which led to five more second chance points.

On the other side, Brown shot a solid 58% (14-for-24) from inside the arc but were limited to only two three-pointers on 20% accuracy.

In another fast-paced offensive-oriented half, Cornell was up six, 66-60, with 13:30 to go in regulation when the Bears scored five straight points to make it a one-point game.

Following a driving layup from Noard, Cooley hit an underhand layup through two defenders to make it a one-point game.

Hinton attempted a three-pointer from the left elbow, on the next possession, but the ball was blocked by sophomore guard Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson and ended up in Lewis’ hands. The big man quickly sent it to Lilly, who found a streaking Wrisby-Jefferson for the uncontested right-side layup and Brown’s first lead since the 17:19 mark of the first half.

Senior forward Guy Ragland Jr. immediately reclaimed the lead for the Big Red with a three from the top of the arc and Noard hit a deep three near the Cornell bench, his fifth of the night, to make it a 74-69 contest.

The Big Red was up 77-72 when Lilly found an open Lesburt on the left side for a three-pointer at the 5:47 mark. Ninety seconds later, Lewis pushed his way towards the basket and hit another baby hook to tie the contest.

With the game knotted at 79, Okereke put Cornell back on top with a fadeaway jumper in the lane.

Following misses by both teams, Lilly had the ball and faked sophomore guard Jake Fiegen enough to get a wide-open look from the left elbow, but his three-pointer hit the back of the rim and Ragland came down with the board.

Ragland was fouled and made both free throws, giving the visitors an 83-79 lead with 1:21 left in the half.

The Bears missed their next attempt but got the ball back when Cornell hesitated and committed a 10-second violation.

Taking advantage of this extra chance, Wrisby-Jefferson took the inbounds pass and drove to the hoop, cutting through two defenders to make it a two-point contest.

The Big Red worked the game clock down to 10 seconds and Noard launched a three from the right side to put the game away, but it was blocked by Cooley and the loose ball was last touched by the Big Red.

Lilly raced up the left side of the court, finding open space to tie the game, but Okereke moved off his defender to block the ball and send it to Williams.

The senior All-Ivy guard hit both free throws to seal the game and give Cornell its first win since February 1.

In the more evenly matched second half, both teams could only make three triples and shot less than 30% from beyond the arc. While the Bears had four more two-pointers and a slightly higher shooting percentage, the Big Red’s +4/+12% advantage on the glass helped the team gain six more free throw attempts and two additional second-chance points, enough to hold on for the much-needed victory.

All five starters were in double-figures for Cornell, with Noard leading the way with a game-high 23 points and Ragland adding 19 points as well as eight rebounds and five assists.

Lewis totaled 20 points and six rebounds for Brown, while Lilly had a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 assists.

Both teams are back in action next weekend for the final back-to-back games of the regular season. Cornell welcomes Princeton (17-9, 6-5) on Friday and seventh place Penn (7-17, 3-8) on Saturday, while Brown travels to Harvard (10-14, 5-6) for the first game and second-place Dartmouth (13-11, 7-4) for game number two.