Men's Basketball Downed by La Salle

Bronx, N.Y. – First the good news for the Fordham University men's basketball squad. Sophomore guard Joseph Chartouny set the school record for most steals in a season tonight. Now the bad. The Rams couldn't steal a win from the Explorers, falling to La Salle, 67-52, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 10-14 overall, 4-7 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle improves to 13-9 overall, 7-4 in the conference.
 

Chartouny recorded four steals tonight to bring his season total to 80, surpassing Jason Harris' former mark of 78 set in 1999-2000. Chartouny also netted 14 points and added five rebounds and five assists while graduate student guard Javontae Hawkins led all Fordham scores with 18 points, shooting 4-for-9 from behind the arc and he also had three steals.
 
Fordham had it shots to win tonight, attempting 13 more field goals than La Salle but the Rams shot just 33.9 percent (19-56) in the contest. The Rams were also outscored at the charity stripe, 18-4.
 
La Salle led for the first 11:34 of the game until a Christian Sengfelder layup with 8:26 left in the first half knotted the game at 15.
 
After Jordan Price gave the Explores a 17-15 lead, a Hawkins three and Sengfelder free throw over the next 1:30 gave Fordham a 19-17 lead with 6:35 remaining in the period.
 
La Salle responded with a 9-2 run over the next five minutes to take a 26-21 lead with 1:43 left in the half before Chartouny sandwiched a three and a jumper around a La Salle basket, to pull the Rams within two, 28-26, with 48 seconds on the clock. But the Explorers scored the final four points of the half for a 32-26 halftime lead.
 
The Explorers opened the second half with ten unanswered points to go up 16, 42-26, four minutes into the half before three-pointers from Hawkins and Will Tavares trimmed the Fordham deficit to ten, 42-32, with 13:39 remaining.
 
But a 14-2 run helped La Salle take a commanding 56-34 lead with 7:38 left and the closest the Rams would get from that point would be the final 15-point deficit.
 
Fordham returns to action on Saturday, February 11, as they travel to Fairfax, Va., to face the George Mason University Patriots in an Atlantic 10 contest in the Patriot Center at 6:00 p.m.
 
Notes
The loss snaps a Fordham three-game winning streak versus La Salle.
 
The 52 points ties the Fordham season-low (set against Harvard) while the four free throws made also ties a season-low for the Rams (versus Saint Joseph's).
 
It was Fordham's 20th game of the year in which the Rams committed fewer turnovers than their opponent.
 
After two straight games in which he was held to single digits in scoring, Hawkins recorded his team-best 19th double digit scoring game of the year.
 
Sengfelder was held without a three-pointer for just the third time this year.

La Salle was led by 26 points from B.J. Johnson. His father, Bobby, played at La Salle with Fordham head coach Jeff Neubauer.