As we approach March, the Fordham University men’s basketball team is hunting for the strategies and lineups that will allow them to end their season on a high note. However, the Rams could not seem to find or employ them in time for their recent games against the Duquesne University Dukes and Davidson College Wildcats.
On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the Rams battled the Dukes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, looking to earn their second win against them this season following their Jan. 26 game that ended 65-63 in the Rams’ favor. While the matchup remained relatively close, the Dukes earned redemption with their second-half performance.
By six minutes into the first, the Rams brought their lead to seven, 17-10, but the Dukes slowly chipped away at it throughout the half, eventually reaching the first tie of the night with 5:35 on the clock, 24-24. A seven-point run by the Rams earned them another lead, 31-27, but the Dukes scored four in a row before the break, tying it again, 31-31, at the half.
At the beginning of the second, the matchup remained neck-and-neck until about five minutes in, when the Dukes’ senior guard Jahsean Corbett scored a layup that sparked a 10-2 run to increase their lead to 46-37. The Rams cut the advantage to four but trailed throughout the half. Then, a run by the Dukes increased their lead to 11. With three minutes on the clock, the Rams got within seven, but the Dukes held on for the 73-64 win.
With the win, Duquesne improved to 11-15 overall, 6-7 in the Atlantic 10, while Fordham fell to 11-15 overall and 3-10 in the conference. Senior guard Jackie Johnson III scored 20 points for the Rams, as graduate student forward Matt Zona added 12 and junior forward Joshua Rivera and graduate student guard Japhet Medor each scored 10.
With the Rams coming off three consecutive losses and the Davidson Wildcats coming off two, each team desperately needed the win in the Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, Feb. 22, to begin their desired A-10 run. In their January matchup, the Rams were down 46-20 at the break, and while they narrowed the lead throughout the second half, they ultimately fell 74-64 to the Wildcats. This time around in the Bronx, the Wildcats dominated once again; while they are near the bottom of the league in field goal percentage and defense ability behind the arc, they persistently held the Rams down.
A pair of three-pointers from Johnson III led Fordham to an 8-2 lead three minutes into the first half, but soon after, mirroring consecutive threes from the Wildcats tied the score 8-8. Sophomore forward Jahmere Tripp drove to tie it again at 10 with 13:30 remaining, but the offense then froze. The Rams began to struggling setting up their defense, and the Wildcats took advantage, as they built an 18-point lead, 34-16. The Rams entered a brutal five-minute scoring drought, allowing Davidson to score 14 consecutive points until a Zona three broke it with 3:36 remaining. At the half, Davidson led 41-24.
While the Rams thrive off the momentum they often bring to begin second halves, they struggled to find it on Saturday, as the Wildcats scored the first five points of the half less than a minute in. The deficit later increased to 20, 57-37, before the Rams made a notable dent in it with an 18-11 scoring run to cut the lead to 13. Defensively, Fordham adjusted their game as they began to exert full-court presses, forcing the Wildcats out of their rhythm as they struggled with the extra pressure on each possession. After a Johnson III driving layup, the Rams brought the game within seven, 69-62, following a 10-3 scoring run. A pass to Rivera from Medor gave them the chance of a two-possession game, but Rivera missed the alley-oop, and the win quickly left Fordham’s reach as back-to-back triples from Davidson brought their advantage to double digits with two minutes left to play. The game ended 80-69.
The Rams were unable to play cleanly for an entire 40 minutes on either side of the court; their defensive game, especially, allowed Davidson to thrive early on. With the loss, Fordham falls to 11-16 overall and 3-11 in the conference, while Davidson improves to 16-11 overall, 6-8 in the conference. Johnson III scored 21 points and Tripp scored 17, adding ten rebounds.
The Rams will continue to test and seek what game plans work best for them as they enter the home stretch of their season. They will travel to Virginia for their Wednesday, Feb. 26 matchup against the George Mason University Patriots and will host the Saint Joseph’s University Hawks on Saturday, March 1 in the Bronx.
