Men’s Basketball Stays Perfect at Home

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Bronx, N.Y. – On Three Kings Day, Fordham senior forward Ryan Rhoomes gave Ram fans one last Christmas gift as he recorded his fourth double-double of the year, including a career-high 18 rebounds, to lead Fordham to a 66-61 Atlantic 10 win over La Salle University in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham improves to 10-3 overall, 1-1 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle, who dropped its seventh straight, falls to 4-8 overall, 0-2 in the conference. The win was Fordham's tenth straight home victory, the longest home winning streak for the Rams since a 12-game streak in the 1990-1991 season.
 
Rhoomes netted 25 points, one shy of his career-high, shooting 8-for-12 from the field to go with the 18 rebounds and he added four blocks. He did most of his damage in the second half, scoring 19 of his 25 points and grabbing 13 of his 18 rebounds. He was joined in double figures by Antwoine Anderson, who just missed his own double-double with eleven points and tying his career-high with nine assists.
 
"I told Ryan in the locker room after the game that I coached a lot of great players and the second half that he put forth was the best I've ever seen," said Fordham head coach Jeff Neubauer.
 

The game started slow with the Explorers leading 29-25 at the break but the Rams opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt on a Rhoomes put back, a Nemanja Zarkovic three and a Christian Sengfelder layup to take a 32-31 lead two minutes into the half.
 
But La Salle regained the lead and built it to as many as six three times over the next nine minutes, the final time at 51-45 with 9:11 remaining. A pair of Mandell Thomas free throws started a 9-3 Fordham run as the Rams took a one-point lead, 54-54, on a Rhoomes layup with 5:14 remaining.
 
A Johnnie Shuler three gave La Salle a two-point lead at the 4:17 mark but a Jon Severe free throw followed by two Rhoomes charity shots gave Fordham the lead for good, 57-56, with 3:39 left. The Rams got the lead to as many as five, 68-63, on two Severe free throws with 23 seconds left but a Jordan Price three cut the Rams' advantage to two, 63-61, nine seconds later.
 
Anderson hit one of two free throws with 12 seconds remaining, giving the Explorers a chance for a tie but a Dusan Majstrovic three from the corner with six seconds left was no good. La Salle managed to grab the rebound but Anderson came up with a steal and hit two free throws with two seconds left for the final.
 
The Rams return to action on Sunday, January 10, as they host the University of Richmond Spiders in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym at 2:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network.
 

 
Notes
Joseph Chartouny (injury) and Ryan Canty (illness) missed their second straight game.
 
The game marked the first time that Neubauer faced his alma mater as a head coach (Neubauer is a 1993 graduate of La Salle).
 
Rhoomes' 18 rebounds bring his career total to 745, good for eleventh on the school's career rebounding list.
 
Rhoomes' previous career-high for rebounds was 17, set against Siena in 2014.
 
Rhoomes has eleven career double-doubles and has scored in double figures in 12 of the 13 games this year.
 
Anderson originally set his career-high for assists with nine against Howard in 2014.
 
Thomas netted four points to bring his career total to 1,259, good for 16^th on the Fordham career scoring list.
 
Thomas tied his season-high with seven rebounds.
 
The Rams connected on a season-high 26 free throws but hit a season-low 17 field goals.
 
The game was Fordham's first win this season when scoring fewer than 70 points.
 
The Rams outrebounded La Salle, 44-37, and are a perfect 9-0 this year when outrebounding their opponent.
 
The ten wins this year match the season total for last year.