Men's Basketball Downed by La Salle, 75-67
Will Tavares leads Rams with 18 points
Philadelphia, Pa. - Ray Charles once lamented in song, "Trying to tell you son if it wasn't for bad luck, now now, Oh, oh, I wouldn't have no luck at all." That could easily sum up the Fordham University men's basketball program tonight as they faced off with La Salle in an Atlantic 10 matchup in the Tom Gola Arena. La Salle's B.J. Johnson, who entered the game as the Atlantic 10's leading scorer averaging 21.2 ppg, had missed five of the previous six games for the Explorers but was in the starting lineup tonight, scoring nine first half points to help the Explorers build a big lead and a Fordham second half comeback fell short as the Rams fell to La Salle, 75-67.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 6-12 overall, 1-5 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle improves to 8-11 overall, 2-4 in the conference.
Prokop Slanina
Senior guard
Will Tavares paced the Rams with a game-high 18 points, and he added seven rebounds, while senior forward
Prokop Slanina added 12 points, junior guard
Joseph Chartouny netted eleven and senior guard
Perris Hicks added ten. Chartouny also dished out a season-high nine assists while Slanina recorded a career-high five steals.
The Rams trailed by 13 at the break, 44-31, and La Salle opened the second half with a 12-4 spurt to take its biggest lead of the night at 21, 56-35, five minutes into the half.
Trailing by 20 with 12:41 remaining, 61-41, Tavares went to work for the Rams, scoring eleven of Fordham's 16 points in a 16-1 run that cut the Fordham deficit to five, 62-57, with 7:39 remaining following a Tavares layup. But La Salle connected on a three-pointer 20 seconds later to squelch the Fordham run and the closest the Rams got from that point was eight.
Takeaways
The two teams wore special t-shirts in recognition of the
Full Court Press on ALS campaign to raise awareness and fund for ALS research.
The game was a Homecoming for Fordham head coach
Jeff Neubauer, who was a four-year letterman with the La Salle basketball program. He was a freshman on the 1989-1990 Explorer team that went 30-2 and earned an NCAA tournament berth for head coach Speedy Morris.
Will Tavares netted double figures for the 15th time in 17 games this year.
He did most of his damage in the second half, scoring 16 of his 18 points over the final 20 minutes.
The Rams outshot the Explorers, 48.2 % to 47.5 %, falling for just the second time in six games this year when outshooting the opponent.
The Fordham managers defeated their La Salle counterparts on Tuesday night for their first win of the year.
The Explorers have now won three straight over Fordham and lead the all-time series, 37-17.
La Salle was coming off back-to-back overtime games, including a triple overtime loss at Duquesne on Saturday.
By the Numbers
5 – Steals by
Prokop Slanina, a career-high (previous high was three which he accomplished twice).
7 – Rebounds by
Will Tavares, matching his career-high (which he has done six times now).
9 – Assists by
Joseph Chartouny, a season-high (previous high was eight at Rutgers).
10.0 – Average points per game in the second half for
Will Tavares, who is averaging a team-high 15.1 ppg on the season.
213 – Career steals for
Joseph Chartouny, who had one tonight, good for fifth on the Fordham career list.
384 – Career assists for
Joseph Chartouny, who had a season-high nine tonight, moving him ahead of Rob Baxter (1991-1996) and into sixth place on the Fordham all-time assists list.
What's Next?
The Rams return to Philadelphia to face the Saint Joseph's University Hawks in an Atlantic 10 contest in the Michael J. Hagan Arena '85 on Saturday, January 20, at 1:00 p.m.
The game will be a part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight.
The Hawks lead the all-time series, 35-18.
The two teams split a pair of games last year with Saint Joseph's winning, 70-55, on January 7 in the Rose Hill Gym and the Rams taking an 86-83 double overtime decision in Philadelphia as
Antwoine Anderson hit a three-pointer at the second overtime buzzer.
