Men’s Basketball Closes Out Year with Win over SC State

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Bronx, N.Y. (December 31, 2014) – When Jose Rizal, Filipino nationalist, novelist, poet, journalist, and revolutionary said "The youth is the hope of our future" he could very well have been talking about the 2014-15 Fordham men's basketball team. For the second straight game, the Rams used a youth movement with two freshmen scoring in double figures, led by Christian Sengfelder's game-high 22, to pick up their second consecutive win, a 74-54 decision over South Carolina State University in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham improves to 5-6 while South Carolina State falls to 4-11.
 
Sengfelder led Fordham in scoring for the second successive contest, shooting 9-13 from the field to net his season-high 22 points and he also grabbed seven rebounds, while classmate Nemanja Zarkovic added eleven points, three assists and two steals and fellow rookie Eric Paschall pulled down nine boards to go with nine points.
 

The Rams' success was also bolstered by a pair of juniors as Mandell Thomas netted 12 points and added seven assists, four rebounds and three steals and Ryan Rhoomes chipped in with a game-best eleven rebounds while scoring eight points and blocking four shots.
 
After a slow start to the season from the field, Fordham has started shooting the ball better lately, connecting on over 50% of its shots in the past two games. Conversely, the Rams' defense held its second straight opponent to shooting under 40% from the field as the Bulldogs hit just 35.6% (21-59) of their shots today.
 
Fordham also dominated the boards against South Carolina State, outrebounding the Bulldogs, 44-23, and have now outrebounded its opponents in nine of the eleven games this season.
 
Similar to Sunday's win over Howard, Fordham used a strong second half to secure the win, outscoring South Carolina State 37-22 in the period while shooting 56.5% from the field (13-23) and holding the Bulldogs to 29.6% shooting (8-27).
 
Fordham led by five at the break, 37-32, but opened the second half with 12 unanswered points, led by four from Sengfelder, to take a 49-32 lead 4:27 into the half.
 
A Karon Wright three-pointer stopped the Fordham run but the Rams came right back with a 13-5 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 62-40, following a Sengfelder layup with 11:40 left in the game.
 
The Bulldogs managed to cut the Fordham deficit back to 14 twice over the next five minutes, the final time at 66-52 with 6:11 remaining but the Rams scored eight straight, six by Thomas, to put the game away.
 
The Rams got off to a slow start, trailing the Bulldogs by seven, 18-11, with 11:47 left in the first and were down five, 24-19, four minutes later before using a 13-3 spurt to take a 32-27 lead with 3:27 on the clock on a Sengfelder layup.
 
The Rams return to action on Sunday, January 4, as they open their 2015 Atlantic 10 season by hosting the VCU Rams in the historic Rose Hill Gym at 1:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.
 
Notes
Sengfelder's previous season-high was 21 points against Monmouth… He is shooting 63.0% (17-27) from the field over the past two games… Rhoomes' recorded his fifth double-digit rebounding game of the year and the 14^th of his career… The Rams recorded 20 assists and eleven steals and now have 43 assists and 18 steals over the past two games… Fordham outscored South Carolina State 42-22 in the paint… The eleven steals was a team-high on the season for the Rams, surpassing the ten against Maryland Eastern Shore and Monmouth… The 54 points was a season-low for a Fordham opponent this year as were the three free throws made… The game was the first ever meeting between Fordham and South Carolina State… The Rams are now 6-3 all-time against schools from the MEAC.