Men’s Basketball Edged at Rhode Island, 68-65

Kingston, R.I. (January 7, 2015) – Not to suggest that the first 38 were boring, but fans at the Ryan Center were riveted to their seats for the final two minutes of the Fordham-Rhode Island men's basketball tilt on Wednesday. The last 120 seconds seemed to take 15 minutes to complete and was full of missed free throws, turnovers and plenty of drama but the ball didn't seem to bounce the right way for Fordham as the visiting Rams came up short, dropping a 68-65 decision to the home Rams.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 5-8 overall, 0-2 in the Atlantic 10, while Rhode Island improves to 10-3 overall, 2-0 in the conference.
 

Eric Paschall paced Fordham with 19 points and nine rebounds, shooting 8-for-13 from the field, while Antwoine Anderson (14) and Mandell Thomas (13) also scored in double figures.
 
Rhode Island led by six, 62-56, with 3:37 left when a Christian Sengfelder three-pointer made it a three-point game, 62-59.
 
A pair of Anderson free throws pulled Fordham within one, 62-61, with just under three minutes remaining but E.C. Matthews nailed two charity shots with 2:42 left to boost the Rhode Island lead back to three, 64-61.
 
Anderson drove the lane 21 seconds later, scoring the bucket and converting to the free throw to knot the game at 64 but Matthews responded again for Rhode Island with a layup at the 1:52 mark and then things got even more interesting.
 
Fordham missed two shots over the next minute but Rhode Island couldn't capitalize on the Fordham misses. With 42 seconds left, Rhode Island's Jarvis Garrett went to the line and missed two free throws with Paschall grabbing the rebound of the second miss but the ball went off him and out of bounds.
 
Again Rhode Island didn't take full advantage of the miscue as Garrett hit just one of two free throws to make it a 67-64 game with 38 seconds left.
 
Jon Severe attempted to tie the game for Fordham but his three-pointer with 26 seconds left came up short and Rhode Island rebounded the ball. Fordham fouled T.J. Buchanan with 21 seconds remaining and Buchanan proceeded to miss both of his charity shots. Hassan Martin rebounded the second miss for Rhode Island but couldn't convert a layup and the ball was rebounded by Paschall for Fordham who fed Anderson. Anderson drove the lane hoping for a layup and foul but had his shot deflected by Martin and Rhode Island corralled the rebound.
 
Fordham fouled Matthews who missed his first free throw with five seconds remaining but hit the second to give Rhode Island a four-point lead, 68-64. But the drama wasn't over as Matthews fouled Bryan Smith in the act of shooting a three-pointer. Smith made his first free throw but missed his second. He then intentionally missed the third but Fordham was called for a lane violation and Fordham fouled Biggie Minnis with one second left. Just to make things interesting, Minnis missed both of his free throws but a last second heave from Paschall came up short.
 
Fordham came out hot and led by eight twice in the first 7:12, the final time at 19-11 following a Ryan Rhoomes layup with 12:48 left in the half. Rhode Island then scored eight unanswered points to tie the game at 19 with 10:21 remaining.
 
The game was tied at 26 later in the half when Rhode Island closed out the period with a 9-5 run to take a 35-31 lead at the break.
 
Fordham opened the second half with a 7-3 spurt to tie the game at 38 on a Paschall jumper with 14:37 left but Rhode Island erupted with ten straight points to take its biggest lead of the night, 48-38, with 12:07 remaining.
 
Fordham whittled away at the Rhode Island lead, eventually getting it to three on the Sengfelder three with 3:37 on the clock.
 
Fordham returns to action on Saturday, January 10, as they host the University of Dayton Flyers in the historic Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live by the Atlantic 10 Network (SNY in New York).
 
Notes
Thomas had two steals in the game and now has a team-high 30 on the season… He has at least one steal in 12 of the 13 games this year… Sengfelder tied his season-high with three steals… Fordham held Rhode Island to just one three-pointer in the game, a season-low for a Fordham opponent… Rhode Island attempted 35 free throws, a season-high for a Fordham opponent… Fordham opened Atlantic 10 play by facing the top two teams in the conference at forcing turnovers, VCU (18.0 turnovers forced/game) and Rhode Island (15.8)… Fordham was outrebounded (34-33) for just the third time this season… Former Fordham and Rhode Island head coach Tom Penders was in attendance.