Men’s Basketball Battles VCU Before Falling, 63-57

Brooklyn, N.Y. (March 12, 2015) - The New York Islanders will be playing their home games at the Barclays Center next year but it looked like the arena was hosting a hockey game today as Fordham University and VCU locked horns in a physical second round game of the 2015 Atlantic 10 Championship. The Bronx Rams gave their Richmond counterparts all they could handle, before falling to VCU, 63-57.
 
With the loss, Fordham closes out the season with a 10-21 mark while VCU improves to 23-8 and moves on to face #4 Richmond in the quarterfinals on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
 

Fordham gave a spirited effort, despite playing without the service of 2015 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Eric Paschall, who missed the game with an injury. But sophomore guard Jon Severe picked up his game, scoring a team-high 14 points while redshirt freshman Manny Suarez finished with a season-high 13 points and eight rebounds. Junior Mandell Thomas (12) and senior Bryan Smith (11), appearing in his final career game, also scored in double figures for Fordham.
 
Fordham knew it would have to cut down on the 28 turnovers the Rams committed in their first meeting with VCU which VCU turned into 36 points. Today, Fordham did commit 16 miscues but actually outscored VCU, 16-12, in points off turnovers. The Achilles heel for Fordham today was rebounding as VCU grabbed 20 offensive boards and outscored Fordham 18-12 on second chance points.
 
Fordham, who was playing its second game in 20 hours, also couldn't overcome the deep VCU bench as VCU had nine players who played nine minutes or more compared to seven for Fordham.
 
The game was tight throughout with neither team holding more than a six point lead and the game was knotted at 30 at the half. VCU opened the second half by grabbing a four-point lead, 37-33, just over three minutes into the half before Fordham came back with a 7-3 run to tie the game at 40 on a Suarez layup with 13:09 left.
 
The game would be tied again at 42 1:30 later when Smith hit a three that started a 7-2 Fordham spurt as Fordham took a 49-44,matching its largest lead of the game, with 9:10 remaining. Smith capped the run with a layup.
 
But VCU battled back to tie the game for the sixth time at 49 with 7:21 on the clock before a Suarez three-pointer  a little over a minute later gave Fordham a 52-50 lead. VCU then ran off eight straight points to build a 58-52 advantage with 2:31 left but a Severe three made it a three-point game, 58-55, 29 seconds later.
 
On the ensuing possession, VCU grabbed three offensive rebounds before finally scoring on a layup to extend the lead to five and the closest Fordham would get from there was four, 61-57, following a pair of Suarez free throws with 12 seconds remaining.
 
Notes
Thomas's 12 points brings his career total to 1,064, moving him into 29^th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list… He is averaged 17.2 ppg over the final five contests… Thomas also had two steals to bring his team-high season total to 73, the fourth best single season total in school history and five shy of Jason Harris' school record of 78, set in 1999-2000… Thomas had at least one steal in all but two games this year… Ryan Rhoomes finished with eight rebounds to bring his career total to 636, moving him into 15^th place on the Fordham all-time rebounding list… Fordham held VCU to shooting just 30.5% (18-59) in the game, VCU's lowest shooting percentage in a game this year… Fordham alum and ABC/ESPN basketball announcer Mike Breen was at the game.