Men’s Basketball Wins Seventh Straight

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Bronx, N.Y. – After winning the previous six games by an average of 24.3 ppg, the Fordham Rams found themselves in a different game tonight with LIU Brooklyn as the Rams trailed for most of the second half before the Blackbirds forced overtime. But in the extra period, Mandell Thomas scored five of his team-high 28 points to lead the Rams to an 89-84 win in the Rose Hill gym.
 
With the win, Fordham's seventh straight, the Rams improve to 7-1 while LIU Brooklyn falls to 4-3. The seven-game winning streak is Fordham's longest since 1990-1991 while the 7-1 start to the season is Fordham's best since 1971-1972. The seven-game winning streak is also the longest active streak of any Atlantic 10 team and tied for the third longest winning active streak in the NCAA Division I.
 

Thomas added five rebounds and five steals to go with his season-high 28 points while Jon Severe, who shot 10-for-15 from the field, netted a season-high 26 points and three assists and Joseph Chartouny recorded his second double-double of the year, scoring 16 points, eight of those coming in overtime, to go with ten rebounds.
 
Fordham, who trailed by as many as eleven in the second half, was down seven, 54-47 with eight minutes remaining when a Severe layup started a 7-0 spurt as the Rams tied the game at 54 on a pair of Thomas free throws with 6:38 on the clock.
 
The game would be tied four more times over the next three minutes, the final at 62 on two Thomas charity shots with 3:39 remaining in regulation.  A Severe driving layup with 3:05 left gave Fordham a two-point lead and Fordham would get the lead to five, 72-67, on a Christian Sengfelder three with a minute remaining. But the Blackbirds scored the last five points of regulation, the final three on a Jerome Frink three-pointer with 21 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
 
The two teams exchanged baskets in the first 1:05 of overtime before a Thomas trifecta gave Fordham the lead for good, 77-74, with 3:34 remaining. LIU Brooklyn managed to get the Fordham advantage to one twice in the extra period, the final at 85-84, on a Martin Hermannsson three-pointer with 26 seconds left but Thomas and Chartouny buried their free throws in the final 17 seconds to secure the win for the Rams.
 
Fordham opened the game on fire, jumping out to a 10-0 lead 2:46 into the contest, with four of the points coming from Ryan Rhoomes, and the Rams led by nine, 15-6, following a Severe three-pointer with 14:35 left in the half.
 
The Ram offense then went cold as LIU Brooklyn reeled off the next 19 points to take a ten-point lead, 25-15, with 6:07 left in the first.
 
A 7-2 Fordham run, led by four points from Thomas, got the deficit down to five, 27-22, with 4:30 remaining but the Blackbirds closed out the half with four unanswered points to take a 31-22 lead at the break.
 
Sengfelder also finished in double figures for the Rams with ten points to go with seven rebounds.
 
The Rams return to action on Sunday, December 13, as they host Coppin State University in the Rose Hill Gym at 1:00 p.m.
 

 
Notes
Thomas' 28 points brings his career total to 1,206 points, moving him ahead of Jermaine Anderson (2002-2006) and Steve Samuels (1980-1985) and into 20th on the Fordham all-time scoring list.
 
The season-high 28 points was one shy of Thomas' career-high (his previous season-high was 26 versus Manhattan).  
 
Rhoomes had six rebounds in the game to bring his career total to 694, moving him ahead of Charlie Yelverton (1968-1971) and into 12th place on the Fordham career rebounding list.
 
Rhoomes also had three blocks in the game to bring his career total to 109, moving him ahead of Ed Bona (1979-1983) and into seventh on the school's all-time blocked shots list.
 
Severe's 26 points was a season-high, surpassing his previous best of 16 in the season opener at UT Arlington.
 
Chartouny's ten rebounds ties his season-high, first set against Colgate.
 
The Rams' 50 second half points ties its season-high, first set against FDU.
 
The game was Fordham's first overtime game since the Monmouth game on December 10 last year.
 
The Fordham defense recorded ten steals and now has 82 on the year.
 
The Rams have scored 80 points or more in five of the past six games.
 
Fordham now leads the all-time series with LIU Brooklyn, 10-4, and took all three games with Northeast Conference opponents this year.