Is it better to have had hope and lost it, or to have never been bullish at all?
Fans of Fordham Men’s Basketball may be pondering this exact conundrum following the team’s latest four-game stretch. After a 68-53 road loss to Davidson College that pushed the skid to four games, the Rams went on to rattle off two needed home wins. The bunch defeated Duquesne University and George Mason University 79-67 and 61-60, respectively, but failed to continue the streak this past Saturday and fell to St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, 82-69.
Fordham’s first half against the Davidson Wildcats was hotly contested. The boys from the Bronx led led 24-23 at halftime and scored the first six points of the second half thanks to made 3-pointers from sophomore Will Richardson and senior Kyle Rose who tallied nine points and six points, respectively.
Davidson eventually used an 11-2 run to take a 43-39 midway through the half. A Rose triple with 8:05 to play in regulation trimmed the Fordham deficit to four but the Cats reeled off 10 straight points to take a commanding 59-45 lead that they would not relent.
The Wildcats shot 57.2% from the field and roughly 45% from range in the second half. The crew from North Carolina had four players finish with double-figure scoring marks. Senior Connor Kochera tallied a game-high 21 points. Sophomore Reed Bailey poured in 19 points and made 12 of his 16 free throw attempts. Senior Grant Huffman added 10 points and six rebounds while redshirt sophomore Angelo Brizzi collected 14 points and four boards.
By contrast, the Rams shot 26.67% from the field in the second half and did not receive scoring from their usual providers. Senior Antrell Charlton and sophomores Elijah Gray and Romad Dean could only combine for 18 points. Further, senior Japhet Medor did not score and only collected a single assist.
Senior Abdou Tsimbila and sophomore Joshua Rivera each put up seven points, but it would not be enough to outduel a hot Wildcat team that ran through Fordham’s defense in the second half.
The loss to Davidson was Fordham’s fourth in a row. In need of a boost, they returned home to face a Duquesne Dukes team they had lost to on the road earlier this season. With a rowdy Rose Hill crowd present, the Rams bested the Dukes in a war of attrition.
“It was pretty amazing to see that atmosphere tonight,” Rose said after the game. “It was great to have everyone come back and support us.”
Duquesne outscored Fordham 32-26 in the first half. Across the opening 20 minutes, neither squad shot above 40% from the field, but the Dukes benefited from 17 free-throw attempts. They used the Rams’ aggression to their advantage and drew contact in a variety of ways.
Dae Dae Grant led the Duquesne offense. The senior guard posted a team-high 15 points and made all 10 of his free throws. Senior Jimmy Clark III and graduate student Fousseyni Drame combined for 23 points, but freshman Jake DiMichele was held to only six points after dropping 15 points against the Rams back in January.
Fordham started the second half with an 8-2 scoring run to tie the game at 34. A three-point play by freshman Jahmere Tripp later ignited an 11-0 run that would give the Bronx’s best a 47-37 with 14:47 remaining.
“We started slipping a few more screens and keeping the ball in the middle of the floor,” said Fordham head coach Keith Urgo. “They were ‘icing’ or downing ball screens on the wing so we tried to keep the ball screens and dribble handoffs on the wings more between the slots.”
The Rams’ seniors stepped up in a big way, and set the emotional tone in the second half. Rose scored a game-high 23 points on an 8-12 shooting performance. Tsimbila put up 10 points, blocked a team-high six shots and swiped six rebounds. Charlton scored 16 points, rattled off a team-high eight assists and grabbed four rebounds.
The men in maroon led by as many as 17 points and ultimately snapped the longest losing streak of their season.
After hosting one of the more exciting games of Fordham’s season, the historic Rose Hill Gym was home to one of the strangest contests of the year a few days later.
Fordham and the George Mason Patriots each shot under 30% from the field across the first 20 minutes of action. The Rams trailed 19-18 heading into the break, and were in a defensive scrum against a squad that boasts one of the Atlantic 10’s leading scorers. Sophomore Keyshawn Hall ended his night with a team-high 15 points, but did so on an inefficient 4-11 shooting performance.
The second half began with a 21-8 George Mason run. Holistically, the Patriots received scoring from seven different players outside of Hall, and the second half saw them begin to click. Senior Darious Maddox and graduate student Amari Kelly were particularly effective. Maddox totaled 13 points on a 4-8 shooting night while Kelly posted eight points and a team-high eight rebounds. An Austin Ball 3-pointer with 12:22 left gave the road team a 40-26 edge, their biggest of the night.
“We kept saying in every huddle, we’re going to take it inside of the last four minutes,” Urgo said after the contest. “They are going to wear out.”
The Rams got the deficit down to 10 points three times over the next two minutes, and
two Dean free-throws later jolted a 15-4 run for the Rams. A Rose triple made it 52-51 and granted Fordham their first lead of the act with 4:44 left.
“They focused on getting stops,” said Urgo. “They didn’t let their offense early on dictate their effort.”
Fordham played a feisty second half and shot roughly 58% from range over the final 20 minutes. Richardson and Dean each collected 10 points while Charlton put up nine points, six rebounds and four dimes.
The two sides worked their way towards what was a thrilling conclusion. The Patriots took a 60-58 lead thanks to a Kelly putback with 24 seconds left.
As he’s done so many times throughout his Fordham career, Rose stepped up when it mattered most. With only four seconds remaining, the Maryland native drained a triple to give Fordham a 61-60 that would ultimately mark the final score. Rose finished his night with a team-best 16 points, while also grabbing four rebounds and dishing four assists.
“When you do all of the right things for the right reasons for as long as he’s done it, and have been through four coaches, you’re destined to hit some shots like that,” Urgo said of Rose. “He’s earned that right.”
Heading into this past Saturday’s contest in the city of brotherly love, Fordham had won two straight in comeback fashion and was attempting to maintain the sort of momentum that can make a team scary in March.
Despite these ambitions, the Rams fell flat against St. Joseph’s. The Hawks jumped out to a 10-0 advantage in the first half, and led by as many as 26 points at one point in the game. Fordham fought back thanks to a career-high 31 points from Rose, but would only trim the deficit to as little as seven points.
St. Joseph’s received stellar performances from each member of their starting five. The group combined for 58 points. As a team, the Hawks shot roughly 46% from the field and collected 21 assists. Graduate student Cameron Brown tallied 15 points. Junior Erik Reynolds II cashed in 14 points. Perhaps most notably, junior Kacper Klaczek scored a team-best 16 points off the bench on a strong 7-11 shooting performance.
The Rams only collected eight assists and made around 41% of their shots. Outside of Rose, there were very few decent individual outings. Medor could only provide five points, and Chartlon was held to four points and two assists. Further, Richardson and Rivera only combined for a single point.
All told, Fordham failed to maintain the rhythm they built over the prior two games against St. Joseph’s. Their defense struggled on the perimeter and also allowed 46 points in the paint. Offensively, the Rams didn’t play a clean game and committed 16 turnovers.
The boys from the Bronx now hold a 6-10 conference record and are 10th in the A-10 standings. It is quite possible that their most recent stretch illustrated both the ceiling and the floor.
There are two regular season games left and tournament time is knocking on the door. Fordham will have to decide which version of their team will answer.
