Arlington, Texas - Fordham head coach
Jeff Neubauer came oh-so-close to becoming the first men's basketball head coach at Rose Hill to win in his Fordham debut since Bob Quinn in 1986 as the Rams trimmed a 17-point deficit to just one three times in the final three minutes tonight. But Fordham would get no closer to UT Arlington, falling to the Mavericks, 77-72, in the College Park Center in the season opener for both schools.
Mandell Thomas led the Rams with a game-high 21 points, shooting 5-for-9 from behind the arc and he added three assist and two steals while
Jon Severe added 16, hitting four of his six deep shots, and he dished out two assists and blocked a pair of shots.
Fordham trailed by 17, 65-48, with 8:02 left when an
Antwoine Anderson layup ignited a 15-2 Ram run as Fordham pulled within four, 67-63, on a
Joseph Chartouny layup with 4:20 on the clock. Thomas led the run with three three-pointers.
After a Faith Pope layup bumped the UT Arlington lead to six, 16 seconds later,
Christian Sengfelder hit a jumper and, following a UTA turnover,
Nemanja Zarkovic nailed a three-pointer to make it a one-point contest, 69-68, at the 3:42 mark.
A pair of Drew Charles free throws forty seconds later made it a 71-68 game but
Ryan Rhoomes hit a pair of free throws after he was fouled following an offensive rebound with 2:40 remaining.
Just under a minute later, Kennedy Eubanks put back a Maverick miss to make it a three-point game again, 73-70, but Thomas answered with a jumper at the 1:12 mark as the Rams were again within one, 73-72.
On the ensuing UTA possession, Erick Neal was fouled but made only one of his two free throws. Kaelon Wilson got the rebounds for the Mavericks but Chartouny stole the ball for the Rams with 36 seconds left. Fordham ran a play for Thomas but his layup fell out and was rebounded by Eubanks who was fouled with five seconds left.
Eubanks missed both of his free throws but Wilson snuck in and grabbed the rebound of the second miss and got the ball to Neal who was fouled behind the arc. Neal hit all three charity shots with two seconds left to make the final 77-72.
UT Arlington jumped out to a 14-6 lead over the first 5:36 before the Rams used a 9-2 spurt to pull within one, 16-15, on a Thomas layup with 11:31 left in the half. But the Mavericks responded with eight unanswered points to take a 24-15 lead with 8:27 remaining.
The Rams got the got the UTA lead down to five three times over the next four minutes, the final at 29-24 on an Anderson layup. But the Mavericks outscored the Rams 10-2 over the final four minutes to take a 39-26 lead at the break.
Anderson (12) and Rhoomes (10) also finished in double figures for the Rams, with Rhoomes adding seven rebounds and three blocks while Sengfelder chipped in with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.
The Rams return to action on Tuesday night, November 17, as they host the Queens College Knights in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
NotesFordham recorded 16 assists on 27 baskets.
The Rams outshot the Mavericks, 44.3% (27-61) to 43.1% (28-65).
Fordham shot a sizzling 46.2% (12-26) from behind the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
Thomas' 21 points brings his career total to 1,085, moving him ahead of Dan O'Sullivan, Dan Lyons and Gerry Smith and into 26
th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list.
Rhoomes scored all ten of his points in the second half.
Rhoomes' seven rebounds brings his career total to 642, moving him ahead of Fred Herzog (1987-92) and into 14
th place on the school's career list.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak in season openers for the Rams.
Fordham is now 0-5 all-time in the Lone Star State.
