Photo Gallery Bronx, N.Y. (February 25, 2015) – Fordham University's leading scorer
Eric Paschall was held to just four points and the Rams shot just two free throws in their Atlantic 10 matchup with La Salle University. Normally that would be cause for concern for Fordham but
Bryan Smith and
Jon Severe picked up the slack with 15 points each while
Christian Sengfelder notched his third double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Rams to a 63-48 win over the Explorers in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, Fordham's fourth over the past six games and third straight at home, the Rams improve to 9-17 overall, 4-11 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle falls to 15-13 overall, 7-8 in the conference.
Jon SevereThe Rams have won four Atlantic 10 games for the first time since 2008 and have won four of six conference games, and three straight A-10 home contests, for the first time since 2007.
The Rams gave their best defensive tonight, holding the Explorers to a season-low output for an opponent this year while limiting La Salle to shooting just 29.5% (18-61) from the field, also a season-low for a Fordham opponent in 2014-2015.
Fordham, who never trailed in the game, also controlled the boards, outrebounding La Salle, 46-34, on the night, led by Sengfelder's 14 and
Ryan Rhoomes' 13 rebounds.
Unlike the first meeting between the two schools in which La Salle jumped out to a big early lead, the game tonight was low scoring over the first five minutes with the Rams holding a 4-0 lead. The Explorers cut the Rams' advantage back to one, 9-8, with 13:24 left in the half when Fordham used a 7-2 spurt to build a 16-10 lead on a Sengfelder jumper with 11:30 on the clock.
La Salle battled back, eventually tying the game at 21 with 6:25 remaining in the half but the Rams closed out the period with an 11-2 run to take a 32-23 lead at the break.
Layups from Paschall and Smith over the first minute of the second half extended the Fordham lead to 13, 36-23, and the Rams would lead by 13 six more times over the half, the final at 54-41 with 8:18 remaining. A Severe jumper then started a 9-1 Fordham run as the Rams took their biggest lead of the night, 63-42, on a Smith free throw with 1:42 left.
Thomas added eight points and a career-high ten assists for the Rams.
Fordham returns to action on Saturday, February 28, as they travel to Amherst, Mass., to face the University of Massachusetts Minutemen for an Atlantic 10 matchup in the Mullins Center at 4:00 PM.
NotesSmith matched his season-high with the 15 points, originally accomplished last Saturday at Davidson… He is averaging 13.3 ppg over the past four games… Sengfelder is averaging 14.0 ppg and 9.0 rpg over the past six contests… He now has five double digit rebounding games while Rhoomes has a team-high nine… Thomas's previous career-high in assists was seven, which he accomplished three times, twice this year… Thomas had three steals in the game to bring his team-leading total to 58… He has at least one steal in all but two games this year… Thomas' eight points brings his career total to 978, good for 37
th on the Fordham all-time scoring list… Severe matched his season-best with five rebounds… Fordham is averaging 71.7 ppg over the past three home wins with a 15.7 ppg average margin of victory… The win snaps a three-game Fordham losing streak to La Salle… The Explorers connected on just 18 field goals, tying a season-low for a Fordham opponent (La Salle also had 18 in the first matchup with the Rams)... The previous season-low in scoring for a Fordham opponent this year was 54 by South Carolina State while the previous low for shooting percentage for a Fordham opponent was 34.5% (20-58) by Saint Joseph's… Westchester County Executive Rob Asterino, a Fordham grad, was at the game.
