Box Score
West Long Branch, N.J. (December 21, 2013) – With St. Nicholas Day quickly approaching, the Fordham men's basketball squad ran in to a Nicholas today but it wasn't the good kind for the Rams. Monmouth's Andrew Nicholas netted 30 points, including a three-pointer with 1:38 left to break a 77-77 tie, to lead the Hawks to an 87-78 win over Fordham in the Multipurpose Activity Center.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 6-4 while Monmouth, who won its third straight, improves to 6-6.
The Rams fell despite a season-high 32 points from freshman
Jon Severe, who shot 8-for-13 from behind the arc, 6-for-8 in the first half as the Rams took a 46-41 lead into the intermission.
Fordham increased the lead to as many as 13 in the second half, 63-50, and led by seven, 77-70, following a Severe three-pointer with 3:31 remaining. Six seconds later, Deon Jones missed the second of a one-and-one but the Rams couldn't control the ball and it went back to Monmouth. Max DiLeo made the Rams pay, nailing a three with 3:07 on the clock to make it a three-point game, 77-74.
After a missed Severe jumper, Monmouth moved the ball around to Nicholson who buried a three-pointer to tie the game at 77.
On Fordham's ensuing offensive possession,
Ryan Rhoomes was fouled with just over two minutes left but he missed both of his free throws, the first missed free throws of the game for the Rams. Monmouth rebounded the second miss and got the ball down court where a loose ball was picked up by Nicholas on the right wing and he hit his sixth three-pointer of the game to give the Hawks the lead, 80-77, with 1:38 remaining.
Severe made one of two free throws at the 1:23 mark to make it a two-point game, 80-78, but a Josh James trey gave the home squad an 80-78 lead with 49 ticks on the clock and the Hawks hit all four of their free throws over the final 29 seconds to secure the win.
Frazier added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Rams while Rhoomes had seven points and two blocks and
Travion Leonard finished with six points, six rebounds and three blocks.
The Rams return to action on Monday, December 23, as they host the Loyola (Ill.) University Ramblers in the Rose Hill Gym at 4:00 PM.
Notes
Frazier's 12 points bring his career total to 1,257, 15
th on the school's career scoring list, 21 points behind David Maxwell (1980-83) for 14
th… Severe's eight three-pointers in the game is the second most in a game for a Ram, behind Jason Harris' school-record ten set in 1999 (Greg Pedro (1988), Chris DiMascio (1996) and Harris (2001) also hit eight in a game)…
Mandell Thomas was limited to just ten minutes due to injury…
Ryan Canty returned to action for the Rams after missing the last six games… Monmouth's 12 three-pointers in the game was the most for a Fordham opponent this year… The Rams shot 20-for-23 from the charity stripe but missed three of their last four… Fordham was outrebounded 44-32 in the game… The Rams are now 3-2 all-time versus Monmouth… The Rams were trying to go to 7- 3 to start a season for the first time since 1984-85.
