Philadelphia, Pa. – It's a little known, but timely, fact that Girl Scout Cookies first made their debut in 1932 in Philadelphia. And today the Tagalong would be the cookie of choice for most of the Saint Joseph's University men's basketball squad who tagged along as James Demery and Pierfrancesco Oliva combined to score 47 of the 68 Hawks' points to lead Saint Joseph's to a 68-46 Atlantic 10 win over Fordham in the Michael J. Hagan '85 Arena on Saturday.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 6-13 overall, 1-6 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's improves to 9-9 overall, 4-3 in the conference.
The Rams were led by junior guard
Joseph Chartouny and junior forward
Prokop Slanina, who each scored eleven points with Slanina adding eight rebounds and two blocks and Chartouny seven rebounds along with four assists and two steals.
Fordham led for a majority of the first half, taking its first lead at 9-8 six minutes into the game on a
Perris Hicks three-pointer, and building the lead to as many as five, 22-17, following a
Cavit Havsa three with 9:09 left in the half.
The Rams led by four, 25-21, after a pair of Chartouny free throws with 4:20 on the clock but the Hawks closed out the half with a 7-2 spurt to take a 28-27 lead into the intermission.
Fordham opened the second half cold from the field as Saint Joseph's commenced the half with a 9-3 run to bump the lead to seven, 37-30, just under four minutes into the period and the Hawks would get the lead to 12, 45-33, three minutes later.
The Rams managed to get the deficit down to eight twice later in the half, the final time at 50-42 on a Slanina three-pointer with 7:22 remaining but that was as close as they would get.
Takeaways
Fordham attempted 60 percent of its shots from behind the arc (33 of 55).
Saint Joseph's entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in rebounding (38.0/game) and grabbed 41 today as did the Rams (a season-high for Fordham).
Fordham held Saint Joseph's leading scorer Shavar Newkirk, who entered the game averaging 17.8 ppg, to just five points, all coming in the final 1:43 of the game.
The Rams also limited Hawk freshman Taylor Funk, who entered the game leading the conference in three-pointers made per game (3.1) to just one long distance shot today.
The Hawks entered the game second in the Atlantic 10 in assist/turnover ratio (1.4) and had 21 assists with seven turnovers today.
It wasn't until there was 4:02 left in first half that a player not named James Demery or Pierfrancesco Oliva scored for Saint Joseph's.
All ten Fordham players who dressed appeared in the game.
Today's matchup between Saint Joseph's and Fordham is just one of many this season between the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities across the United States. Dedicated to academic rigor, research, faith and serving others, Jesuit Catholic education stands at the intersection of minds, hearts and souls.
The Rams are now 191-207 all-time against other Jesuit schools.
By the Numbers
3 – Steals by the Rams, matching their season-low (vs. Davidson on Sunday).
8 – Rebounds for
Will Tavares, a career-high (previous high was seven which he accomplished six times, five of those coming this season, the last on Wednesday night at La Salle).
11 - Three-pointers attempted by
Perris Hicks, a season-high for a Ram.
41 – Rebounds for the Rams, a season-high (previous season-high was 38 versus Harvard).
69.1% - Percentage of total team points scored by Saint Joseph's James Demery and Pierfrancesco Oliva.
215 – Career steals for
Joseph Chartouny, who had two today, good for fifth on the Fordham career list.
388 – Career assists for
Joseph Chartouny, who had four today, placing him sixth on the Fordham all-time assists list.
What's Next?
The Rams return to the historic Rose Hill Gym to host the defending Atlantic 10 champions, the University of Rhode Island Rams on Wednesday, January 24, at 7:00 p.m.
Rhode Island leads the all-time series, 37-28.
Fordham took the lone meeting last year, 53-43, in the Ryan Center on February 15 behind 20 points and nine rebounds from
Javontae Hawkins and 17 points and 13 boards from Chris Sengfelder.
