NEW YORK – The Maritime College men's basketball team did something for the first time since 2018 on Sunday afternoon—play a Division I opponent.  Maritime visited Columbia for an exhibition game at Levien Gymnasium and fell to the Lions (2-4) by a 96-44 count.

It was the Privateers' first matchup against a Division I foe in almost exactly four years.  Maritime dropped a 91-40 decision at Army on Nov. 21, 2018.

On Sunday, Columbia recorded the first four points before Maritime got buckets from Robbie Mitchell (Staten Island, NY) and Aleksandar Begovic (Kotor, Montenegro) to tie the score.  However, the Lions responded with 24 of the next 27 points to open up a 28-7 advantage midway through the first half.  Columbia held a 53-16 lead at halftime.

Maritime started the second half strong, cutting its deficit to 32 points, 58-26, on a Jake Murphy (Rockville Centre, NY) layup with 14:16 left.  Columbia immediately countered with an 18-4 run, though, to bring its lead to 76-30.  The final margin was 96-44.

Jack Driscoll (Smithtown, NY) led the Privateers with eight points off the bench.  He didn't miss a shot, going 2-for-2 from the field (both three-pointers) and 2-for-2 at the line.  Driscoll also had two assists.  Tyler Anderson (Smithtown, NY) finished with seven points and four assists, while Sean Flynn (Flushing, NY) registered three blocks to go along with five points and three rebounds.  Maritime shot 32.7 percent (16-of-49) from the field overall, but was just 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) from three-point range.  The Privateers shot 75 percent (6-of-8) at the charity stripe.

Twelve different players scored for Columbia, with Blair Thompson notching a game-high 14 points.  Lukas Yurasitis finished with 13 points and six rebounds, while Geronimo Rubio de la Rosa had 12 points on four treys.  Avery Brown and Jaden Cooper handed out four assists apiece, and Jake Tavroff grabbed a game-high seven rebounds to go along with seven points and three blocks.  As a team, Columbia shot 56.1 percent (37-of-66) from the floor, 43.8 percent (14-of-32) from downtown, and 57.1 percent (8-of-14) at the free throw line.

Up next for the Privateers (2-2) is a 7 p.m. matchup with NYU (4-0) at Riesenberg Gymnasium on Tuesday.  It will mark the start of a two-game homestand before Skyline Conference play for Maritime.