Men’s Basketball Runs Past Queens, 76-57

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Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham fans got their first look of the 2015-2016 men's basketball squad tonight and certainly liked what they saw as first-year head coach Jeff Neubauer led his charges to a strong defensive effort, forcing 23 turnovers, while four Rams netted double figures in a 76-57 win over Queens College in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham evens its record at 1-1 while Queens falls to 1-2.
 

Christian Sengfelder led the Rams with a game-high 17 points, and he also grabbed eight rebounds while Ryan Rhoomes also had eight boards to go with his 14 points. Jon Severe added 14 points, hitting three three-pointers, and he added four assists, three steals and two blocks, while Mandell Thomas chipped in with 13 points, five assists and two steals.
 
But it wasn't all offense for Fordham tonight as the Rams stepped it up on defense, forcing 23 turnovers while recording eleven steals. The Rams turned the 23 Queens turnovers into 21 points while they also controlled the paint, outscoring the Knights 42-26 in the lane.
 
The Rams jumped out to a 7-0 lead, thanks to a three-point and layup from Sengfelder and a fast break dunk from Severe over the first 1:07.
 
After a Queens free throw got the Knights on the board, Fordham ran off seven unanswered points to take a 14-1 lead following a Sengfelder layup with 16:30 remaining in the first.
 
Queens used a 7-0 spurt to cut the Fordham lead to six, 14-8, two minutes later and the Knights were down six again with 13:50 left, 16-10, when the Rams used an 8-2 run to double their lead, 24-12, on a Sengfelder jumper at the 9:32 mark.
 
Three Severe free throws with 7:19 remaining boosted the Fordham lead to 15, 29-14, before Queens trimmed the Rams' advantage back to nine, 29-20, two minutes later.
 
A Thomas three, Severe steal and dunk and Thomas layup gave the Rams their largest lead of the half, 36-20, with 4:30 left and Fordham took a 41-27 advantage into the break.
 
Fordham opened the second half with an 13-4 run, led by four points from Rhoomes, to take a commanding 54-32 lead with 13:55 remaining as the Rams coasted to the victory.
 
Fordham returns to action on Saturday, November 21, as they host the FDU Knights in the Rose Hill Gym at 2:00 p.m.
 

 
Notes
Mandell Thomas was presented a commemorative ball in honor of his 1,000^th career point, scored last year at UMass.
 
Nine different players scored for Fordham.
 
The Rams led the entire game, aside for the first 14 seconds when the score was 0-0.
 
Fordham is now 79-18 (.814) in home openers, winning three of the past four home openers.
 
Thomas's 13 points brings his career total to 1,098 career points, good for 26th on the Fordham all-time scoring list.
 
Rhoomes' eight rebounds brings his career total to 650, 14^th on the Fordham career rebounding list.