March is a time of renewed desire and hope in college basketball. With the Atlantic 10 Conference championship around the corner (beginning on Wednesday, March 12), the Fordham men’s basketball team desperately needs some change and momentum. However, neither was gained in their recent matchups against the George Mason University Patriots and the Saint Joseph’s University Hawks.
In their matchup against George Mason in Virginia on Wednesday, Feb. 26, as usual, the Rams came out strong in the first as senior guard Jackie Johnson III earned five of the team’s first seven points, giving them a 7-2 lead less than three minutes in. However, over the following four and a half minutes, the score was tied twice at 9-9 and 12-12 before the Patriots began to increase their lead. After a five-point scoring run by the Patriots, with 9:05 on the clock, a three from graduate student Japhet Medor cut their lead to two, 17-15, but the home team held onto their lead. A 9-4 run by the Patriots gave them a 32-24 lead at halftime.
The Rams came out of the break with the momentum they needed, scoring the first eight points and tying the game at 32 three and a half minutes into play. The Patriots increased their advantage, but the Rams’ responses consistently kept it within a one or two-possession game. Later in the second, a Johnson III bucket tied it again at 55, but the Patriots continued pushing the Rams down as they held out for the 74-64 win.
The loss marked Fordham University’s fifth in a row, as they fell to 11-17 overall, 3-12 in the A-10, and George Mason advanced to 22-6 overall, 13-2 in the conference. Medor led the Rams with 22 points, while Johnson III scored 13 and graduate student forward Abdou Tsimbila added eight.
The Rams looked desperate to bounce back on Saturday, March 1, against the Hawks. While they put up an impressive fight, they were eventually outplayed in the Rose Hill Gym. The game began with back-to-back buckets for both teams, but the Hawks took an early 12-7 lead by four minutes in. They remained in the lead until around halfway through the first when Fordham completely flipped the game.
Amid an 18-5 Rams scoring run, graduate student forward Matt Zona made a layup, and Medor followed with a three to make it a one-point game, 29-28. A shot from Medor then gave the Rams their first lead of the night, 30-29, with 8:54 on the clock. Fordham began playing more physically, especially defensively in the paint, stripping the Hawks of multiple opportunities; in an event the Hawks were seemingly unprepared for, Fordham was outplaying St. Joseph’s. With 4:21 left in the half, Fordham increased their lead to eight, 43-35. However, missed free throws from the Rams and a sequence of successful layups from the Hawks allowed St. Joseph’s to climb back into the game by the final minute, tying it again at 45 with 42 seconds left. Fordham was up 47-45 at the break.
Fordham played their best possible game in the first half, shooting over 50% from behind the arc and only turning over the ball three times. However, it all seemed to be a wake-up call for the Hawks in the locker room, as they came out ready to dominate after the break. The Rams lacked the energy they always thrive off of at the beginning of the second (reflecting their performance last week against Davidson College, which ended 80-69 in Davidson’s favor) as the Hawks scored the first eight points, earning them a 53-47 lead three minutes in. Defensively, the Hawks were playing with vigor that translated to their offense, and while the Rams were putting up a persistent fight, they couldn’t break through like they did in the first.
By the halfway point of the second, the closest the Rams got before the end was within eight, which they did five times. The win slipped from Fordham’s hands as the Hawks denied them any possible run, and once the fouling began, St. Joseph’s only excelled with their talent from the free-throw line. The game ended 90-76.
With the loss, Fordham fell to 11-18 overall, 3-13 in the A-10, while Saint Joseph’s improved to 19-10 overall, 10-6 in the conference. Four players scored double digits for the Rams, as Johnson III dropped 18 points, junior forward Joshua Rivera scored 14, sophomore forward Jahmere Tripp had 13 and junior forward Romad Dean added 11.
As they enter their final week of regular season games, Fordham will look to end on a high note with their matchups with the George Washington University Revolutionaries on Wednesday, March 5, and the University of Rhode Island Rams on Saturday, March 8.
