Photo Gallery Brooklyn, N.Y. (March 11, 2015) – After just about each Fordham men's basketball practice, freshman forward
Christian Sengfelder stays around to get in some extra shooting with one of the assistant coaches. Tonight that extra work paid off as Sengfelder connected on 10 of his 13 shots, scoring a season-high 27 points, to lead the Rams to a 71-65 win over George Mason University in the first round of the 2015 Atlantic 10 Championship at the Barclays Center.
With the win, Fordham improves to 10-20 on the season and advances to face fifth-seeded VCU on Thursday at 2:30 p.m., while George Mason closes out the season with a 9-22 mark.
Sengfelder surpassed his previous season-high of 22 points, set against South Carolina State and matched against Saint Louis, and netted the third most points by a Ram at the Atlantic 10 Championships (Marcus Stout scored 31 points against Duquesne in 2004 while
Branden Frazier netted 30 last year versus Dayton).
Mandell ThomasMandell Thomas (13) and
Bryan Smith (12) also netted double figures for the Rams with Thomas adding five assists and three steals while Smith grabbed four rebounds and had three assists.
Fordham took a six-point lead at the half, 34-28, and a
Ryan Rhoomes basket 1:15 into the second gave the Rams a 36-28 advantage but seven straight George Mason points cut the Fordham lead to one, 36-35, with 16:18 on the clock.
A Sengfelder three-pointer started an 8-0 Fordham spurt, capped by another Sengfelder three as the Rams took their largest lead of the night, 44-35, with 12:23 left.
The Patriots cut the Fordham advantage to three, 47-44, with a 9-3 run over the next four minutes, but the Rams came right back with a 7-1 spurt to get the lead back to nine, 54-45, following a Thomas three-point play, after one of his three steals, with 6:24 on the clock.
George Mason netted the next seven points to whittle the Fordham lead to two, 56-54, but six straight Fordham points got the Rams' lead back to eight, 62-54, with just over two minutes remaining.
Fordham led by eight again with 1:07 left following a pair of Thomas free throws but the game was far from over as the Rams missed free throws allowing the Patriots to get the lead down to two, 67-65 with 19 seconds on the clock. But Smith and Sengfelder each hit two free throws over the final 17 seconds to secure the win for the Rams.
The first half was closely contested with seven ties, the final at 28 with 4:11 left before the Rams scored the final six points to take the 34-28 lead at the break.
NotesThomas's 13 points brings his career total to 1,052, moving him into 30
th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list… He is averaging 18.5 ppg over the past four contests… Thomas' three steals brings his team-high season total to 71, tying him for the fourth best single season total in school history and seven shy of Jason Harris' school record of 78, set in 1999-2000… Thomas has at least one steal in all but two games this year… Rhoomes finished with three rebounds to bring his career total to 628, moving him into 18
th place on the Fordham all-time rebounding list… Smith was playing just down the street from his high school (Midwood)… At the beginning of the game, according to the scoreboard, the game was between the University of North Carolina and the Brooklyn Nets… The Fordham band won Battle of the Bands against the George Mason band by a text vote… The Rams defeated a team twice in a year for the first time since a pair of wins over both St. Bonaventure and Duquesne in 2007… The Rams are now 9-5 when leading at the half and won for just the second time in 22 games when being outshot by an opponent… Fordham is a perfect 5-0 all-time against George Mason and 3-2 in the Barclays Center.
