Damon Huffman, shown in a 2004 game against URI, scores a career-high 39 points against Ohio U., but Brown falls short in the CBI.

Journal / Glenn Osmundson

ATHENS, Ohio — Students at Brown are in the midst of mid-term exams, but men’s basketball coach Craig Robinson said the team would have played Sunday night if the first College Basketball Invitational had scheduled them to do so.

About the only thing that took away from the Bears’ excitement of making their fourth postseason appearance was that Ohio University managed to spoil one of the greatest performances in Brown history.

Senior guard Damon Huffman tied the school’s single-game record with nine 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 39 points, but the Bobcats rallied for an 80-74 victory last night in the first round of the inaugural CBI.

Brown built a 10-point lead midway through the first half and held the advantage for the first 21 minutes and 56 seconds, before Ohio seized control with a combination of strong inside play and clutch shooting.

Huffman made 9 of 15 3-pointers and was 13-for-20 overall from the floor in the final performance of his college career.

“They started making plays down the stretch and we didn’t make enough plays,” Huffman said. “Once they got back into it, it was tough to hold them off. I would have liked to have scored 39 points and have gotten a ‘w.’ I would have traded every point if I could.”

The Bobcats, who improved to 20-12 and won their first postseason game since 1983, took a 40-39 lead on a layup by Michael Allen with 18:04 remaining.

The Bears reclaimed the lead on a 3-pointer by Huffman with 17:33 to go and held the advantage until Bert Whittington made a 3-pointer to make it 51-51with 9:53 left.

The lead changed hands two more times before Ohio’s Bubba Walther hit a 3-pointer with 5:24 remaining to make it 60-60. Jerome Tillman scored on a layup with 4:57 left to make it 62-60.

That, however, was the Bears’ last lead.

After the Bobcats built a 69-65 advantage, Huffman made a pair of free throws with 1:22 to go to cut it to two, but Tommy Freeman hit a 3-pointer to give Ohio a 72-67 lead with 55 seconds to go.

The Bears turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, and Walther made a pair of free throws with 47 seconds left to give the Bobcats their biggest lead.

Ohio made 11 of 12 from the free-throw line over the final 2:09 and 14 of 20 overall.

“They started to hit some outside shots,” senior guard Mark McAndrew said of the Bobcats’ comeback. “That started extending our zone out a little bit and opened up the middle for them. It kind of gave them some options.

“We thought our offense would generate open shots, and it did for the whole game, but we had a couple costly turnovers at the end.”

Brown made 25 of 50 shots from the floor, but the Bobcats bettered that by going 29-for-55 (52.7 percent).

The most telling statistic, though, was rebounding. Ohio grabbed 35, compared to 24 for the Bears, including an 11-6 advantage on the offensive board.

Ohio’s Leon Williams finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds and Tillman scored a team-high 21 points while adding 11 boards.

“That has to be the best performance by a player who’s stepped onto the Convocation Center floor this year,” Bobcats coach Tim O’Shea said of Huffman. “We had one practice to guard that offense and it was a brutal offense. It was tough to come back because they continued to make shots, but I thought we did a good job of getting the ball inside and with just persevering. They extended us to the fullest.”

McAndrew finished with 15 points, including 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range, and added 6 rebounds.

Peter Sullivan had 10 points and 4 rebounds and Scott Friske contributed seven points for the Bears. In addition to McAndrew and Huffman, it was the final college game for senior forward Mark MacDonald, who played nine minutes.

“It was a tough loss, obviously,” Robinson said. “There are some very emotional guys in there. For three of our guys, it was their last game. I can’t say how proud I am of these guys, not just because of the effort tonight, but with what they have accomplished this season.

“I wish we would have won. We handled everything pretty well except for their physicality on the boards.”