Men’s Basketball Falls at La Salle

Philadelphia, Pa. (January 17, 2015) - The Fordham University men's basketball team has been one of the top rebounding teams in the Atlantic 10 this year. Unfortunately, the Rams couldn't rebound from a slow start today, falling to La Salle University, 60-49, in a conference game in the Gola Arena.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 5-11 overall, 0-5 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle improves to 10-8 overall, 2-3 in the conference.
 
The loss overshadowed a strong game for Fordham freshman guard Eric Paschall, who led all scorers in the contest with 25 points.
 
La Salle's nickname is Explorers but for the first few minutes of the game it could have been "the can't miss kids" as the home squad came out on fire, hitting eight of their first nine field goal attempts to build a 17-2 lead 4:27 into the contest.
 
A Paschall dunk at the 13:39 mark halted the La Salle opening salvo but a Cleon Roberts three-pointer gave the Explorers their biggest lead of the half, 20-4, with 12:48 remaining.
 

La Salle led by 16 again with 10:13 left when nine unanswered Fordham points helped the Rams cut the deficit to seven, 23-16. Paschall started the run with a jumper in the paint and then threw down another dunk at the 8:49 mark. A Ryan Rhoomes put back with 8:13 left made it a 23-13 game and Paschall was then fouled while attempting a three-pointer and hit all there free throws to cap the Fordham run with 5:39 remaining.
 
After the Explorers bumped the lead back to ten, 26-16, Fordham used a Paschall layup and three-pointer to make it a five-point game, 26-21, with 3:18 remaining in the half but the Rams could get no closer and La Salle took a 30-21 lead into the break.
 
Jumpers from Mandell Thomas and Paschall helped the Rams get the Explorers' lead back to five early in the second half, 30-25, but that was as close as Fordham would get.
 
Rhoomes added ten points and nine rebounds for the Rams while Christian Sengfelder finished with five points and eight boards.
 
The Rams return to action on Thursday night, January 22, as they celebrate the 90^th anniversary of the historic Rose Hill Gym by hosting the George Washington University Colonials in an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network.
 
Notes
The game was the fourth 20-point game of the year for Paschall… Bryan Smith was back in the starting lineup after appearing off the bench in the previous 12 games… Rhoomes got back in the scoring column for the Rams after two straight games in which he went scoreless… Thomas did not record a steal for only the second time this year… Fordham outrebounded La Salle, 38-36, and have now outrebounded its opponent in eleven of the 16 games this year… At one point Fordham had four true freshmen on the court (Paschall, Sengfelder, Nemanja Zarkovic and Manny Suarez)… Jon Severe and Zaire Thompson did not dress for the game… The 49 points are a season-low for the Rams… The game was the second straight home game that La Salle opened a big lead early as the Explorers outscored George Washington, 19-2, to open their previous home game (last Saturday).