PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Diamante Lewis scored a career-high 24 points and matched a career high with seven rebounds in Bethune-Cookman's 81-73 loss at Brown Monday night.

Jordan Potts also scored 24, but the Wildcats (4-9) dropped their fifth straight.

Tavon Blackmon's 20 points led four Brown players in double figures as the Bears (4-7) shot 54.9 percent from the field and led for all but 42 seconds of Bethune-Cookman's first-ever game against an Ivy League opponent.

Leading 36-29 at halftime, the Bears used a 12-1 run to start the second half as they built their biggest lead of the night at 48-30 on a Jason Massey free throw with 16:49 to play.

Lewis got the Wildcats within four with a lay-up that made it 53-49 with 12:29 left, and Quinton Forrest finished a three-point play that made it 62-58 with 6:50 left, but that was as close as Bethune-Cookman could get.

Lewis was 7-12 from the field in the first half, scoring 16 points.

Ricky Johnson added 12 points for the Wildcats. LaRon Smith contributed 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.

B-CU travels to Jacksonville Thursday for a 2 p.m. contest.

HEAD COACH GRAVELLE CRAIG

“We have to play hard 40 minutes. We can't play in spurts and expect to win.”

“How we're starting the second half is becoming an issue. We have to start stronger.”

“Diamante's a streak player. He's a JR Smith type. If he gets  going you can ride him a little bit.”

“We didn't get out in transition until late. We have to do a better job of making the extra pass.”

DIAMANTE LEWIS

"Getting to the basket was get the key. Coach told me to drive lane and draw the fouls."

"First five minutes [of the second half] are big. We came out nonchalant. They hit a couple of three and we were playing from behind.”

"We're getting better every game. We need to clean up some things."

NOTES: The Wildcats outrebounded the Bears 39-34, opponents had won the battle of the boards the last three games…Opponents have shot 50 percent or better the past three games…Johnson is now 66 points away from 1,000 career points…Potts has reached double figures five straight games and Smith has four straight double-rebounding games.