Men’s Basketball Wins Third Straight

Pittsburgh, Pa. – Pittsburgh is known as the Steel City. But tonight it was the Steal City as Fordham and Duquesne combined for 16 steals (eight for each team) but it was the Rams who took better advantage of the turnovers, scoring 25 points off the Dukes miscues, en route to a 78-69 Atlantic 10 win in the A.J. Palumbo Center.
 
With the win, Fordham's third straight, the Rams improve to 16-12 overall, 7-10 in the Atlantic 10, while Duquesne falls to 15-15 overall, 5-12 in the conference.  It marks the first time since 2007 that the Rams won three straight A-10 contests and the seven conference wins are the most since that same season.
 
Ryan Rhoomes paced Fordham with his second straight double-double, and his fifth in his last six games, scoring 15 points and adding a game-high 17 rebounds, one shy of his career-high. Christian Sengfelder and Joseph Chartouny each finished with 13 points for the Rams with Sengfelder adding six rebounds and Chartouny seven assists, while Mandell Thomas (12) and Antwoine Anderson (11) also scored in double figures for Fordham.
 

The Rams hot a sizzling 52.0 percent from behind the arc, connecting on 13 of 25 long distance shots, and outrebounded the Dukes, 34-21, with 13 of the 34 caroms coming on the offensive boards.
 
Fordham won with a strong finish, outscoring Duquesne 12-4 over the final four minutes. The Dukes pulled within one, 66-65 on an Eric James layup with 3:46 left but Rhoomes answered for the Rams with a layup which ignited the closing run.
 
Following a Duquesne turnover, Thomas nailed his fourth three-pointer of the game (Thomas was a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the arc), to give Fordham a 71-65 lead at the 2:52 mark.
 
After a Chartouny free throw 47 seconds later made it a 72-65 game, the Dukes missed two three-pointers and Rhoomes came down with the rebound of the second miss with 1:37 remaining. Duquesne was then forced to foul the Rams but that strategy didn't work as Fordham hit all six of its free throws over the final 1:16 to secure the win.
 
The game started out slowly for Fordham, who trailed 7-0 2:30 into the contest. A pair of Chartouny free throws started a 10-2 Fordham run as the Rams took a 10-9 lead on a Rhoomes old fashion three-point play with 14:20 left in the half.
 
Later in the half, Fordham netted nine unanswered points to turn a 24-23 deficit in to a 32-24 lead following a David Pekarek three-pointer at the 6:22 mark.
 
Duquesne got the Fordham lead down to four, 37-33, with just under two minutes left in the half before the Rams closed out the first 20 minutes with an 8-3 spurt to take a 45-36 into the intermission, thanks to a Thomas three just before the buzzer.
 
Duquesne opened the second half with a 14-5 run to take a two-point lead, 50-48, five minutes into the period but neither team would hold more than a three-point advantage from that point (there would be five ties over that time) until the Fordham run to close the game.
 
The Rams return to action on Saturday, March 5, as they host the University of Rhode Island Rams for Senior Day in the Rose Hill Gym at 2:00 p.m.­
 
Notes
The Ram not only won tonight's game but also took the Manager/Walk-On game on Tuesday night, 90-68. Representing Fordham were managers Connor Birchard, George Kernochan and John Gibney along with walk-ons Matt Massimino and Thomas Sanchez and volunteer assistant video coordinator Khalid Robinson.
 
Rhoomes' 17 rebounds bring his career total to 896, good for seventh on the Fordham career rebounding list.
 
Rhoomes' career-high in rebounding is 18 set against La Salle earlier this year.
 
Rhoomes has led the Rams in rebounding in 20 of the 28 games this year.
 
Rhoomes, who has scored in double figures in 25 of the 28 games this year, now has 17 career double-doubles, ten this year.
 
Thomas' 12 points bring his career total to 1,363, good for 14^th on the Fordham career scoring list.
 
Thomas' four three-pointers bring his career total to 160, placing him eighth on the Fordham career three-pointers made list.
 
It was a sort of homecoming for Fordham assistant coach Rodney Crawford who served as an assistant coach at Duquesne for two years (2010-2012).
 
The Rams had five players score in double figures for the second straight game and are now 6-0 when five players finish in double figures.
 
Fordham was whistled for a season-low 14 fouls.
 
The Fordham freshmen and sophomores combined to score 51 of the 78 points.
 
The Fordham bench was a perfect 6-for-6 from behind the arc (Thomas was 4-for-4 and Nemanja Zarkovic was 2-for-2).
 
The Fordham bench outscored the Duquesne bench, 18-4.
 
The 45 first half points second by Fordham were the second most by the Rams in the first half this year (the Rams netted 47 in the first half against Central Connecticut).