Photo Gallery Bronx, N.Y. (December 1, 2014) – Fordham freshman guard
Eric Paschall had 19 points and three rebounds over the first 39:59 of the game with Siena tonight. But it was what he did in the final second that mattered most, as Paschall blocked a Patrick Cole layup at the buzzer to help the Rams hold off the Saints, 69-67, in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, the Rams improve to 2-4 on the year and snap a four-game losing streak, while Siena falls to 2-3.
Paschall wasn't the only Ram to have a big night as
Ryan Rhoomes set a career-high with 17 rebounds while also scoring six points and blocking a career-best five shots.
Mandell Thomas and
Antwoine Anderson each finished with 18 points, a career-high for Anderson, with Thomas adding four assists.
Antwoine AndersonAntwoine Anderson hit one of two free throws with nine seconds left and Ryan Oliver grabbed the rebound of the miss for Siena. The Saint pushed the ball up court, getting down low to Cole who rose for a layup but Paschall came in from behind and swatted the ball away at the buzzer.
The game was eerily similar to last year's matchup between the two schools, a game that Fordham led by 13 with 13 minutes left only to see the lead whittled away by the Saints, who won the contest by ten.
Tonight the Rams led by 13 three times in the second half, the final time at 48-35 following a pair of
Mandell Thomas free throws, and were up by eleven, 56-45, with 9:38 remaining on another two Thomas charity shots.
The Saints then used a 10-2 run, capped by a Marquis Wright layup, to cut the Fordham lead to three, 58-55, with 6:27 on the clock.
An Anderson three-pointer 1:28 later boosted the Fordham lead back to six, 61-55, but Siena kept paring the lead down, eventually getting it to two, 63-61, on three Rob Poole free throws with 3:39 left.
Four Anderson free throws over the next 2:38 got the Fordham lead back to six, 67-61, but a Cole jumper and Lavon Long layup made it a two-point game again, 67-65, with 21 ticks remaining. Anderson hit one of two free throws with 14 seconds left to make it a 68-65 game before Wright nailed two charity shots to pull the Saints within one, 68-67, two seconds later.
Siena opened the game with a 15-7 spurt, taking its biggest lead of the night following a Wright layup seven minutes into the game.
The Saints led by eight again, 18-10, a little over a minute later when the Rams ran off 18 straight points, capped by a
Nemanja Zarkovic three-pointer, to take a 26-18 lead with 4:23 left in the half and the Rams took a seven-point lead, 30-23, into the break.
The Rams will have nine days off before returning to action on Wednesday, December 10, when they host the Monmouth University Hawks in the historic Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on SportsNet NY (SNY).
NotesRhoomes' previous career-best in rebounding was 15, first set against Dayton last year and matched against UMass Lowell this year… His previous career best for blocks was four, set against Duquesne in 2013… Anderson bettered his previous career-high for scoring which was ten, set against UMES on Saturday… The Rams now lead the all-time series with Siena, 13-10, and have won three of the past four meetings… Fordham outrebounded its opponent for the fourth time in six games this year.
