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NEW YORK, N.Y. – Columbia's Marcorus Garrett ran for 187 yards and an 86-yard touchdown and senior quarterback Sean Brackett threw for three more as the Lions regained possession of the Empire State Bowl with a 34-17 victory on Saturday afternoon at Wien Stadium. Cornell slipped to 4-5 (2-4 Ivy), while Columbia improved to 3-6 (2-4 Ivy).

Columbia's offense piled up 391 yards of offense, but it was the defense that set the tone. The Lions forced five Cornell turnovers, had six sacks and limited the Big Red's high-octane offense to 244 total yards in the win.

One bright spot for Cornell was freshman Luke Hagy, who posted a career-high 124 rushing yards and scored once, while also catching eight passes for 62 yards. His 186 all-purpose yards set a career high. Hagy became Cornell's first 100-yard rusher since Ryan Houska posted 108 yards last season at Princeton. It was two yards off the school freshman single game record.

Luke Tasker became the school's single season receiving yards leader with his three receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown. He ended the day with 1,097 yards this season in nine games, surpassing Shane Savage's record of 1,080 set last year. In the process, Tasker moved into second place on the school's career receiving yards list with 2,372 yards.

Freshman corner Jarrod Watson-Lewis had a big day for Cornell with a pair of interceptions and a pass breakup, while classmate Jonathan Ford had a game-high 11 tackles. Kevin Marchand posted five tackles with two for a loss and a sack to go along with an interception. Junior Brian Gee notched 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a pass breakup and eight total tackles.

For the Lions, Brackett completed 19-of-37 passes for 193 yards and three touchdowns, though he was also picked off three times. His favorite target was Chris Connors, who caught six passes for 84 yards and two scores. Mike Waller had 10 tackles and Josh Martin posted three sacks and a forced fumble in the win.

With a minute left to play in the first half, Cornell had a 17-7 lead. But just like the previous week against Brown, all of the team's momentum was stunted by a last-minute scoring drive. This time, it was a nine-drive, 36-yard drive over the final 50 seconds that ended with a Luke Eddy 44-yard field goal. It was all the opening Columbia would need.

The Lions dominated the second half, allowing the Big Red to post just 111 yardswhile outscoring the visitors 24-0. Four of Cornell's seven offensive possessions ended in turnovers, and two more saw the Big Red go three-and-out. The defense allowed three touchdowns and a field goal in the Lions' first five possessions. The other saw the Lions miss a 30-yard field goal.

Garrett set the tone after halftime, bursting through a tackle at the line of scrimmage and sprinting 86 yards to tie it up with 4:52 left in the third. Cornell fumbled on its next possession, and just 1:28 later Harrison Garner hauled in a 22-yard pass from Brackett to give Columbia its first lead since 7-0. Eddy made it a two possession game just nine seconds into the fourth with a 38-yard field goal, followed by a Brackett final touchdown pass to Conners, their second connection of the day, to seal the game.

It was a far cry from what had happened in the first 29 minutes.

Cornell built a 17-7 lead on the legs of Hagy and a perfectly executed play action pass for a 33 yard touchdown from Jeff Mathews to Tasker. A 35-yard field goal by John Wells also helped Cornell build the lead. That was before the late second quarter drive by Columbia that led to the field goal.

Cornell will have a chance to play spoiler on Senior Day when it plays host to Ivy League leader Penn on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 12:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.