Box Score
Pittsburgh, Pa. (January 8, 2014) – London has given the world lots a valuable things, such as the underground railway, the sport of soccer and jigsaw puzzles. But there's one thing the Fordham University men's basketball program wished it hadn't given Duquesne University. Ovie Soko. The Londoner scored a team-high 29 points to lead the Dukes to an 87-81 win over the Rams at the A.J. Palumbo Center in the Atlantic 10 opener for each school.
With the loss, Fordham's third straight, the Rams even their record at 7-7 on the year while Duquesne, who won its fifth straight, improves to 8-5.
The Rams fell despite a season-high 35 points from freshman guard
Jon Severe, who shot 7-for-12 from behind the arc, his third 30-point game of the year. The 35 points ties Severe with Bevon Robin (1997-98) for most points by a Fordham freshman in a game.
Fordham was done in by what has been a strength of the team so far in 2013-2014: free throw shooting. The Rams entered the game leading the league in free throw shooting percentage (75.4%) but was able to convert only 13 of 22 charity shots tonight (59.1%). Duquesne did a bit better from the stripe, both in percentage and number of shots made, scoring 30 points on 30-for-43 shooting (69.8%).
One of the biggest free throw misses for the Rams came with 1:34 left and the Rams trailing 78-74 when
Branden Frazier, who entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in free throw shooting (91.4%), missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have made it a two-point game.
The fact that the Rams were in the game at the end was due to a late second half surge by the visitors, who trailed by 20, 67-37, with 17:36 remaining. A
Mandell Thomas three-pointer ten seconds later started an 11-0 Fordham run as the Rams made it a nine-point game, 57-48, following a Frazier trifecta with 15:21 left.
The Dukes responded to the Fordham run with a 9-3 spurt to bump the lead to 15, 66-51, on a Terry Jones three-pointer with 11:20 on the clock.
The Rams started to chip away at the Duquesne advantage, cutting it to eight, 73-65, following a Severe layup at the 4:23 mark before the Dukes got it back to ten, 75-65, with 3:45 remaining.
A Severe three eleven seconds later was the first of nine straight Fordham points, the other six coming on Frazier three-pointers, as the Rams pulled to within three, 77-74, following Frazer's second long distance field goal.
After Duquesne's Jeremiah Jones hit one of two free throws, the Rams turned the ball over on offense and Derrick Colter nailed a pair of free throws with 1:02 left to make it an 80-74 game.
The Dukes led by six again 17 seconds later when Severe was fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all three free throws to make it a three-point game, 82-79, but that was as close as the Rams would get as Duquesne hit seven of its eight free throws over the final 46 seconds.
Frazier and Thomas each added 15 points and six assists for the Rams while
Ryan Rhoomes added six points and nine rebounds and
Bryan Smith had five points and ten boards.
The Rams return to action on Saturday, January 11, as they host the University of Richmond Spiders in an Atlantic 10 matchup in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on SportsNet NY (SNY) and will be part of 2014 Hall of Fame Weekend.
Notes
The Rams hit a season-high 16 three-pointers (the previous high was 13 in the season-opener against Saint Francis)… Fordham also attempted a season-high 41 long distance shots (previous high was 31 versus St. John's)… Fordham now has 110 three-pointers on the season, second among all Atlantic 10 schools… The Rams had 19 assists on 26 made baskets… The 19 assists ties the season-high for Fordham, set against Howard earlier this year… Fordham recorded 17 offensive rebounds and had 18 second chance points… The 30 free throws made and 43 free throws attempted are season-highs for a Fordham opponent this year (previous high was 29 made and 42 attempts at Syracuse in November)… Frazier's 15 points bring his career total to 1,332, moving him ahead of Bob Melvin (1960-63) and Bill Langhold (1965-68) and into 13
th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list… The game was the second double digit rebounding game for Smith… Duquesne now leads the all-time series with Fordham, 19-13.
