Philadelphia, Pa. (January 14, 2015) – If tonight's game was best summed up in one word for Fordham University that word could be timely, as not being able to find that timely basket to get the Rams over the hump. Trailing by two with 3:32 remaining the Rams couldn't get a well-timed hoop as Fordham fell to Saint Joseph's, 66-55, in an Atlantic 10 game in Hagan Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 5-10 overall, 0-4 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's improves to 7-8 overall, 1-3 in the conference.
The Fordham defense was strong tonight, holding the Hawks to shooting 39.2 percent (20-51) from the field and held DeAndre' Bembry, the Hawks' leading scorer, to just three field goals. But cold shooting did the Rams in as Fordham shot 38.5 percent from the field (20-52) and 53.3 percent from the foul line (8-15).
Bryan SmithOne of Fordham's strengths all season also failed tonight as the Rams were outrebounded by the Hawks, 42-25, with Saint Joseph's scoring 14 second chance points off 15 offensive rebounds.
Fordham trailed by 13, 40-27, with 13:10 left, the Rams' largest deficit on the night, when a
Christian Sengfelder layup 13 seconds later halted a 9-0 Saint Joseph's run and started a Fordham comeback try. The Sengfelder basket was the first of ten straight Fordham points as the Rams pulled within three, 40-37, when
Eric Paschall nailed a three-pointer from the corner with 9:51 remaining.
After a Saint Joseph's time out, the Hawks used a 7-2 spurt to build the lead back to eight, 47-39, with 7:21 on the clock.
A
Bryan Smith three and a Sengfelder jumper over the next two minutes got the Rams back to within three, 47-44, but four points from Bembry helped the Hawks push the lead to seven, 51-44, with 4:27 remaining.
Just under a minute later, Paschall hit his fourth three-pointer of the night and at 3:32 Smith nailed a pair of free throws to make it a two-point game, 51-49.
But two charity shots by Chris Wilson 15 seconds later put the Saint Joseph's lead at four, 53-49, before Paschall missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2:51 left. Bembry took advantage of the Fordham miss with his third bucket of the game to make it 55-49 at 2:29.
Saint Joseph's rebounded a
Jon Severe missed three-pointer with just over two minutes left and ran the shot clock down to almost zero when Wilson got off a deep three that was nothing but net as the Hawks took a commanding 58-49 lead with 1:26 left.
Paschall led the Rams with 16 points and he added three steals while Smith added a season-high 14 points and
Mandell Thomas finished with ten.
The Rams return to Philadelphia on Saturday, January 17, as they face the La Salle University Explorers in an Atlantic 10 game in the Gola Arena at 2:00 p.m.
NotesThe Rams recorded ten steals in the game, one shy of the team season-high set against South Carolina State…
Mandell Thomas had two steals to bring his team-leading total to 35… He has at least one steal in every game but one this year and is second in the conference in steals/game… Smith appeared in his 100
th career game for the Rams… His previous season-high in scoring was eleven in the season opener with NYIT… The game was the lowest scoring Fordham-Saint Joseph's game since a 56-55 Fordham win in overtime in 2007 (a stretch of nine games)… The Rams have dropped ten straight to Saint Joseph's… The game featured three jump balls in the first 2:20.
