Men's Basketball Outlasted by ETSU, 82-77

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham University offense was on track tonight as the Rams hosted East Tennessee State University in the Rose Hill Gym. But the Fordham defense couldn't match the offense's effort as the Rams fell to the Buccaneers, 82-77.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 2-4 on the year while East Tennessee State improves to 4-3.
 
Will Tavares led the Rams with a career-high 21 points, and he added four steals, while Tre Evans netted a season-high 17 points and Prokop Slanina finished with 16 for the Rams.
 
After a slow start, both teams started to heat up on offense. Fordham took an 18-13 lead on a pair of Evans free throws with 8:48 left in the first but East Tennessee State battled back, eventually taking a 22-21 lead with five minutes remaining in the period and carried a 33-28 advantage into the break.
 
The Rams got the Buccaneer lead down to three four times in the beginning of the second half, the last at 41-38 on a Slanina jumper with 15:35 left. But an 11-2 East Tennessee run gave the Buccaneers their largest lead of the night, 52-40, with 12:34 left.
 
The Rams were able to get the lead down to two, 71-69, on an Evans layup with 1:45 on the and trailed by one, 78-77, on a pair of Ivan Raut free throws with four second remaining but East Tennessee hit all four free throws over the final three seconds to secure the win.
 
Takeaways
The Rams recorded ten steals tonight, the third straight game with double-digit steals and the fourth overall this year.
 
The Rams committed 12 turnovers to 16 for East Tennessee but the Buccaneers outscored the Rams, 21-12, off turnovers.
 
Chuba Ohams and Jesse Bunting did not play tonight due to injuries.
 
Fordham is 0-2 all-time against East Tennessee State and 2-3 al-time against teams currently in the Southern Conference.
 
By the Numbers
6-for-8 – Shooting for Propkop Slanina tonight, bringing his season shooting total to 20-37 (.541)
 
9 – Free throws made by Tre Evans, a season-high for a Ram.
 
17 – Season-high points for Tre Evans (previous high was six against LIU).
 
19.3 – Scoring average for Will Tavares over the past four games.
 
20 – Rebounds by the Rams tonight, a season-low.
 
21 - Points scored by Will Tavares, a career-high (previous career-high was 19 which he did in the past two games).
 
24 – Steals this year by Joseph Chartouny, who had five tonight.
 
49 – Points scored by each team in the second half, a season-high for the Rams and for a Fordham opponent.
 
174 – Career steals for Joseph Chartouny, moving him ahead of Tereum Johnson and Bevon Robin and into seventh place on the Fordham career steals list.
 
What's Next?
The Rams will continue their current home stand by hosting the University of Maine Black Bears in the historic Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, December 2, at 2:00 p.m.

The game will be the third meeting between the two schools on the hardwood.

The two teams have split the first two games with Maine winning, 76-73, in 2009 and the Rams wining, 70-53, in 2015 with both games being played in the Rose Hill Gym.