Men's Basketball Falls to Duquesne

Bronx, N.Y. – Most Gabelli School of Business students at Fordham University are familiar with the concept of a zero-sum game. Today the men's basketball team discovered the theory as they got injured sophomore guard Tre Evans, who missed the past two games, back but lost senior guard Will Tavares, the teams' leading scorer, to injury early in the contest and the Rams couldn't recover, falling to Duquesne University, 64-41, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 6-9 overall, 1-2 in the Atlantic 10, while Duquesne improves to 12-4 overall, 3-0 in the conference.
 
Junior forward Prokop Slanina was the lone Ram to score in double figures, finishing with 12 points, shooting 5-for-8 from the field, and he added three rebounds while freshman guard/forward Ivan Raut and sophomore guard Cavit Havsa each added nine points, Raut's coming on three three-pointers.
 
Both teams started the game off slowly on offense as the Dukes held a 9-3 lead with 12:31 left in the first when Fordham scored ten straight points, five of those from senior guard Perris Hicks, to take a 13-9 lead 1:30 later.
 
Later in the half, Duquesne scored eight unanswered points to take a 21-13 lead with 5:56 remaining and the visitors held a 33-26 advantage at the break.
 
Duquesne opened the second half strong, scoring 17 straight points over the first 6:06 to take a commanding 50-26 lead and the closest the Rams would get from that point would be 19, 50-31, on a David Pekarek layup with 11:18 left.
 
Takeaways
Will Tavares saw his streak of 14 straight games scoring in double figures snapped by his injury-shortened game.
 
All eleven players who dressed for the Rams saw action, including senior forward Chris Downing, who saw his first action of 2017-2018.
 
The 41 points for the Rams was a season-low.
 
The game was Duquesne's first true road game of the year (the Dukes played 13 of their first 15 games in Pittsburgh and two at a neutral site in Las Vegas).
 
By the Numbers
2 – Free throws made by the Rams, tying a season-low.
 
9 – Points scored by Cavit Havsa, a season-high (previous high was seven at West Virginia).
 
14 – Defensive rebounds for Fordham, a season-low.
 
15 – Second half points scored by Fordham, a season-low in a half.
 
205 – Career steals for Joseph Chartouny, who had four today, good for fifth place on the Fordham career steals list.
 
366 – Career assists for Joseph Chartouny, who had five today, tying him with Jerry Hobbie (1981-1985) for eighth on the Fordham career list.
 
What's Next?
The Rams travel to St. Bonaventure, N.Y., to face the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in an Atlantic 10 contest on Wednesday, January 10, at 7:00 p.m.
 
The game will be the 40th meeting between the two schools.
 
The Bonnies lead the all-time series, 24-15, and have taken the past four meetings, including a 73-53 win last January in Rochester.