Late Harvard Three Downs Men's Basketball, 47-45

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham Rams led for 36:30 of tonight's game with Harvard and the score was tied for 3:21. That means the Crimson led for just nine seconds. Unfortunately for Fordham it was the final nine seconds of the game as the Crimson hit a three-pointer with that much time on the clock to defeat Fordham 47-45, in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 3-5 on the season while Harvard improves to 4-6.
 
Senior guard Will Tavares led the Rams with 12 points to go with five rebounds, while junior forward Prokop Slanina added eleven points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Joseph Chartouny filled the stats sheet again, recording six points, ten rebounds, six assists and three steals.
 
The Fordham defense was out in full force tonight holding Harvard to shooting just 33.3 percent from the field (19-57), including 10.0 percent from behind the arc (2-20). But the Fordham offense was cold, shooting 30.5 percent (18-59) from the field, including 21.2 percent (7-33) in the second half.
 
The Rams led by eight, 37-29, midway through the second half when Harvard scored eight straight over a 4:48 stretch to tie the game at 37 with 6:10 remaining.
 
A Tre Evens three-pointer and Tavares dunk gave Fordham a 42-37 lead with 4:16 on the clock and the Rams got the lead to six, 45-39, on a Chartouny three with 2:35 left.
 
Harvard's Bryce Aiken was fouled attempting a three-pointer with 1:24 remaining and buried all three free throws before a Danilo Djuricic layup up with 18 seconds left made it a one-point game, 45-44.
 
The Rams couldn't inbound the ball following the Djuricic basket and were called for a five second violation which the Crimson turned into a Seth Towns three-pointer with nine seconds remaining to take their first lead of the game.
 
Tavares missed on a jumper with two seconds left as the Rams had one last chance inbounding under the basket with 0.1 seconds left but a lob pass was swatted away.
 
Takeaways
Will Tavares has scored in double figures in all eight games for the Rams this year.
 

The Rams are now 22-7 in non-conference home games over the past four years (5-2 in 2013-14, 9-0 in 2014-2015, 5-2 last year and 3-3 this season).
 
Junior forward Jesse Bunting and sophomore forward Chuba Ohams each missed the game due to injury.
 
Fordham is 0-3 this year when scoring less than 59 points.
 
The win was Harvard's fourth straight in the all-time series which Fordham still leads, 8-7.
 
The Rams are now 131-82 all-time against team in the Ivy League.
 
By the Numbers
2 – Three-pointers made by Harvard, a season-low for a Fordham opponent (previous low was five by Miami (OH) and Florida State.
 
16 – Second half points for the Rams, a season-low.
 
22 – Points the under their season averaged scored by Harvard, who entered the game averaging 69.0 points per game.
 
22.2 Percent – Harvard's three-point shooting percentage, a season-low for a Fordham opponent (former low was 20.8 percent by Florida State).
 
47 – Points by Harvard, the lowest total allowed by the Rams in a loss since Fordham fell to Rhode Island 45-44 in 2007.
 
90 – Total steals by the Rams in 2017-2018.
 
181 – Career steals for Joseph Chartouny, good for seventh place on the Fordham career steals list.
 
What's Next?
The Rams will close out their current home stand by hosting the St. Francis (NY) College Terriers in the historic Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, December 9, at 3:00 p.m.
 
The game will be the 35th meeting between the two schools on the hardwood with the Rams leading the all-time series, 23-11.
 
The Rams have taken the past two meetings, including a 76-49 win on December 26, 2006 in the Rose Hill Gym in the last meeting between the two schools.