Men's Basketball Knocks Off LIU

Bronx, N.Y. – During their film session on Sunday, Fordham men's basketball head coach Jeff Neubauer told the Rams that he expected freshman guard Ivan Raut to become one of the best shooters in Fordham basketball history. And tonight Raut was out to prove Neubauer right, draining his first seven three-point attempts to score a team-high 21 points and lead the Rams to an 81-68 win over Long Island University in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham evens its record at 1-1 on the young season while LIU falls to 0-2.
 
Junior forward Prokop Slanina added 19 points and eleven rebounds, both career-highs, for his first career double-double while junior Joseph Chartouny (15) and senior Will Tavares (13) also scored in double figures for the Rams.
 
Unlike the season-opener in which Fordham surrendered a 12-point lead late in the game, the Rams led from start to finish tonight, jumping out to a ten-point lead, 14-4, 5:32 into the game and leading by as many as 15 in the first half, 26-11, with 8:25 left before the Blackbirds were able to get the Fordham lead down to six, 35-29, with 2:23 remaining. But Fordham was able to extend the lead to eleven at the break, 42-31.
 
Fordham opened the second half with a 12-5 spurt to build the lead to 18, 54-36, the Rams' largest lead of the night on a Slanina three-pointer, and the closest LIU would get from that point was seven, 72-65, with 1:37 left.
 
 

Takeaways
After connecting on just three three-pointers in the opener with Miami (OH), Fordham made eleven tonight (the Rams had 24 attempts on both nights).
 
The game was part of the 2017 Jamaica Classic.
 
The Rams now lead the all-time series with LIU, 11-4, and have taken the past two matchups.
 
Fordham is now 61-27 all-time against teams currently in the Northeast Conference.
 
After the Blackbirds scored 96 points in their season-opening loss at Tulane, Fordham held LIU to 68 points tonight.
 
Fordham is now 20-5 in non-conference home games over the past three years
 
 
By the Numbers
.358 – Combined shooting percentage of Fordham's first two opponents (42-117).
 
.458 – Fordham's three-point shooting percentage tonight (11-24).
 
3 - Blocks by Prokop Slanina, tying his career-high.
 
7 – Three-pointers made by Ivan Raut, tying him with Davidson's Kellan Grady for the most by an Atlantic 10 player this year, and the most for a Fordham freshman in school history.
 
7 – Rebounds for Will Tavares, tying his career-high set in the season-opener with Miami (OH).
 
9 – Steals recorded by the Rams, giving Fordham 22 in two games in 2017-2018.
 
632 – Wins for the Rams in the Rose Hill gym (Fordham is one of 16 NCAA Division I teams with 600 or more wins in its current home building).
 
159 – Career steals for Joseph Chartouny, who had four tonight and has nine over the first two games of the year, good for ninth place on the Fordham career list.
 
 
What's Next?
The Rams travel to Montego Bay, Jamaica, to face the Florida State University Seminoles as part of the 2017 Jamaica Classic on Friday night, November 17, at 6:00 p.m.
 
The game will be played at the Montego Bay Convention Centre and will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.
 
The game will be Fordham's first in the country of Jamaica and the first in the Caribbean since the Rams competed in the 2008 Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.
 
It will be the first meeting between the Rams and the Seminoles.