Men’s Basketball Outlasts Monmouth in Overtime, 68-58

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Bronx, N.Y. (December 10, 2014) – Fordham redshirt freshman Antwoine Anderson missed some free throws down the stretch in regulation that could have iced the game for Fordham. But the redshirt freshman made up for it in overtime, hitting three of his four charity shots to help the Rams hold on and defeat Monmouth University, 68-58, in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham improves to 3-4 on the year while Monmouth falls to 4-5.
 
Anderson wasn't the only freshman shining for Fordham tonight as Christian Sengfelder notched his first career double-double with a game-high 21 points and eleven rebounds and classmate Eric Paschall hit a big three-pointer midway through the overtime, three of his 15 points, that tied the game for the Rams at 57. Sengfelder followed Paschall's three with a fast break dunk with 1:24 remaining to give the Rams the lead for good, 59-57.
 

The Rams led by three with 2.5 seconds left following a pair of Ryan Rhoomes free throws and the Hawks turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play. But Monmouth got the ball back as they stole the inbounds pass and started to advance up court when an official blew his whistle for a Monmouth time out with 0.9 seconds on the clock. But after meeting, the officials put 2.5 back on the clock and Monmouth got the ball to Colin Stewart who got off a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
 
A Justin Robinson layup seven seconds into the overtime gave Monmouth a 54-52 lead but Sengfelder tied the game with a put back 44 seconds later.
 
Max DiLeo connected on a three-pointer for the Hawks at the 3:05 mark before Paschall answered for the Rams 24 seconds later to knot the game at 57.
 
With 1:29 left, Anderson blocked a Robison layup and Sengfelder grabbed the rebound and raced to the basket where his dunk with 1:24 remaining gave the Rams the lead for good. Anderson hit three of four free throws over the next 50 seconds to extend the Fordham lead to five, 62-57.
 
A pair of Mandell Thomas free throws with 24.3 seconds remaining boosted the Rams' advantage to seven, 64-57, before Deon Jones hit one of two charity shots for Monmouth to make it a 64-58 game. But Thomas and Bryan Smith each hit a pair of free throws over the final 21 seconds for the 68-58 final.
  
After a Zac Tillman layup 18 seconds into the game gave Monmouth the early lead, the Rams scored eleven straight, led by five from Paschall, to take an 11-2 lead at the 16:28 mark.
 
A 5-1 Monmouth burst cut the Fordham lead to five, 12-7, but the Rams came right back to take a nine-point lead, 16-7, on baskets from Anderson and Sengfelder over the next 2:26.
 
Fordham  was able to stretch the lead to as many as eleven, 31-20, on a Thomas jumper with just under a minute left in the half and took a 31-22 lead into the break.
 
 
The Hawks opened the second half with a 7-3 spurt to make it a 34-29 game 2:07 into the second half but the Rams scored seven answered points to take their biggest lead of the night, 41-29, on a Sengfelder three-pointer with 11:58 remaining in the second half.
 
The Fordham offense then went cold as Monmouth netted nine straight points to make it a three-point game, 41-38, following a Tillman free throw with 7:04 on the clock.
 
The Rams got the lead back up to nine, 50-41, on a Paschall put back but the Hawks wouldn't go away, whittling the Fordham advantage down to one, 50-49, with just under a minute left before Rhoomes gave the Rams a three-point lead and Stewart tied the game at the buzzer.
 
Thomas finished with 15 points for the Rams while Anderson netted nine and added six assists, three steals and two blocks.
 
The Rams return to action on Sunday, December 14, as they travel into Manhattan to face the St. John's University Red Storm at Madison Square Garden as part of the 2014 ECAC Holiday Festival at 2:00 PM in a game that will be televised live on the MSG Network.
 
Notes
Sengfelder's 21 points and eleven rebounds are both season-highs… Anderson is averaging 12.3 ppg and 4.3 apg over the past three games… Rhoomes recorded his fourth double digit rebounding game of the year… Fordham freshmen combined to score 47 of the Rams' 68 points… The Rams held Monmouth to shooting 36.0% (18-50) from the field and 28.6% (6-21) from behind the arc… Fordham outrebounded the Hawks, 36-32, the fifth time in seven games that the Rams have outrebounded their opponent… Fordham scored 30 of its 68 points in the paint to just 16 for Monmouth… The game was the first overtime win for the Rams since a 56-55 victory over Saint Joseph's on January 17, 2007 (Fordham had lost three straight overtime games)… The Rams now lead the all-time series with Monmouth, 4-2.