Men’s Basketball Falls at VCU

Richmond, Va. – The Fordham University men's basketball squad knew that it would have to have the stars align properly to have a chance to upend the defending Atlantic 10 champions, VCU, on its home court. Unfortunately the stars seemed to have been aligned with VCU as the home squad shot over 60 percent from the field and handed Fordham an 88-54 setback in the Siegel Center.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 10-5 overall, 1-3 in the Atlantic 10, while VCU, who won its seventh straight, improves to 12-5 overall, 4-0 in the conference.
 
Mandell Thomas led Fordham with 13 points while also grabbing six rebounds, while Ryan Rhoomes added ten points and eight rebounds.
 
VCU shot a sizzling 61.1 percent in the game (33-54), including 66.7 percent (18-27) in the first half, while Fordham struggled to score over the first 20 minutes, scoring just 19 first half points on 6-for-25 shooting.
 
After VCU jumped out to a 7-3 lead over the first 3:30, a three-point play from Rhoomes pulled Fordham within one, 7-6, with 16:06 left in the half. But the home Rams used a 16-2 run over the next eight minutes to take a 23-8 lead on a Melvin Johnson layup.
 
A pair of Christian Sengfelder free throws snapped a five-minute scoreless drought for Fordham and started a 9-4 run for the visitors to make it a ten-point game, 27-17, following another two Sengfelder charity shots at the 6:04 mark.
 
But VCU outscored Fordham 20-2 over the final six minutes to take a commanding 47-19 lead into the break.
 
Jesse Bunting also finished in double figures for Fordham with a season-high eleven points.
 
Fordham returns to action on Saturday, January 16, with a trip to Philadelphia to take on the Saint Joseph's University Hawks in an Atlantic 10 matchup in Hagen Arena at 1:00 p.m.
 
Notes
Rhoomes' eight rebounds bring his career total to 761, good for ninth on the Fordham career list.
 
Rhoomes also blocked two shots to bring his career total to 122, tying him with Kervin Bristol for fifth on the Fordham career list.
 
Thomas's 13 points bring his career total to 1,294, good for 15^th on the Fordham career list.
 
Thomas was a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc and now has 145 career three-pointers, ninth all-time at Fordham.
 
Fordham is now 0-6 all-time against VCU.
 
The 54 points scored was a season-low for Fordham while the 19 first-half points tied a season low.
 
Nemanja Zarkovic dished out a season-high five assists.
 
VCU and Fordham entered the game ranked one-two in steals in the A-10 but VCU controlled that aspect of the game, recording 13 steals to two for Fordham.