Men's Basketball Falls at #10 West Virginia

Morgantown, W.V. – Even though it was the national day of non-commercialism, there would be no Festivus miracle for the Fordham University men's basketball squad today as the Rams gave tenth-ranked West Virginia all they could handle before succumbing to the Mountaineers, 86-69, in the WVU Coliseum.
 
With the loss, Fordham closes out its non-conference slate with a 5-7 record while West Virginia improves to 11-1.
 
Senior guard Will Tavares led the Rams with 18 points, 16 of those coming in the second half, and he added seven rebounds and two steals while junior guard Joseph Chartouny netted 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and had three steals.
 
The Ram defense was as strong as an unadorned aluminum pole in the first half as Fordham held West Virginia to shooting 43.6 percent in the half and had the Mountaineers treating the ball as if it were a hot bagel at times. The Rams closed out the half with three straight three-pointers to trail by seven at the break, 46-39.
 
A Tavares steal and lay-in 40 seconds into the second half made it a five-point game and had the Rams thinking of a grand postgame Festivus dinner but the Mountaineers responded with a 12-3 run to extend the lead to 14, 58-44, with 12:56 left.
 
Trailing by 12 later in the half, 67-55, a Chartouny layup, Tavares dunk and Tavares layup over the next two minutes pulled the Rams within six, 67-61, with 6:51 remaining and had West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins airing his grievances with the Mountaineers.
 
After a Daxter Miles three bumped the West Virginia lead to nine, Tavares answered with a conventional three-point play to make it a six-point game again, 70-64, with 6:15 on the clock. But the Fordham offense went cold over next five minutes as the Mountaineers won the feat of strength against the Rams, holding Fordham without a field goal over the next five minutes as West Virginia built a 17-point lead, 82-65.
 
Takeaways
Will Tavares, who entered the game leading the Rams in scoring (16.6 ppg), has scored in double figures in each of the 12 games so far this year.
 
Joseph Chartouny, who entered the game leading the NCAA in steals with 3.71/game, recorded three more today to bring his season total to 44. He has at least one steal in all 12 games this year.
 
Sophomore guard Cavit Havsa, who finished with seven points, connected on his first three-pointer and first free throw of the season.
 
Junior guard David Pekarek scored nine points today and is averaging 9.7 ppg over the past three contests.
 
Sophomore guard Tre Evans missed the second half with an injury.
 
Senior guard Brenton Petty saw his first action of the year.
 
Fordham head coach Jeff Neubauer is no stranger to West Virginia, serving as the top assistant coach for the Mountaineers from 2002-2005 under head coach John Beilein. He was a member of the 2004-2005 team that advanced to the Elite Eight and finished ranked 12th in the country.
 
Neubauer also has head coaching experience against West Virginia, bringing his Eastern Kentucky squad to Morgantown in 2015 where the Colonels fell to the Mountaineers.
 
Fordham associate head coach Rodney Crawford played for current West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins at Cincinnati from 2000-2002.
 
Huggins recorded his 830th career coaching win today, moving him into seventh place on the NCAA Division I winningest coaches list.
 
The game was played 68 years to the day of the previous meeting between the two schools.
 
The Mountaineers have won all three meetings with Fordham.
 
By the Numbers
4 – Assists by Cavit Havsa, tying his season-high.
 
7 – Rebounds for Will Tavares, tying his career-high (it's his fifth career game with seven boards).
 
9 – Steals by the Rams, only the fifth time in 12 games this year in which Fordham failed to record double-digits in steals.
 
19-18 – The bench points for Fordham and West Virginia, respectively, as the Rams bench outscored the Mountaineers' bench despite being shorthanded.
 
84.2 % (16-19) – Free throw shooting percentage for the Rams, a season-high in a game for Fordham this year.
 
86 – Points scored by West Virginia, a season-high for a Fordham opponent this year.
 
194 - Career steals for Joseph Chartouny, good for sixth place on the Fordham all-time steals list.
 
355 – Career assists for Joseph Chartouny, good for ninth on the Fordham all-time assists list.
 
What's Next?
The Rams open Atlantic 10 action by traveling to Richmond, Va., to face the VCU Rams in the Verizon Wireless Arena on Saturday, Saturday, December 30, at 12:30 p.m.
 
The game will be the eighth meeting between the two schools.
 
VCU has won six of the first seven meetings but Fordham took last year's matchup, 69-67, in overtime, in the Rose Hill Gym on a an Antwoine Anderson buzzer-beater.