St. Louis, Mo. – It's said that Saint Blaise became quite popular as a beast tamer. On his feast day the Fordham University men's basketball squad could have used his help in taming the factitious beast that is a Billiken as Saint Louis University upended the Rams, 73-50, in an Atlantic 10 game played in Chaifetz Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 7-15 overall, 2-8 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Louis improves to 13-11 overall, 6-5 in the conference.
The Rams were led by junior guard
Joseph Chartouny who scored eleven points while sophomore guard
Cavit Havsa added ten points and four assists.
Fordham trailed by four, 22-18, following a Downing tip-in with 5:40 remaining in the first but the Billikens closed out the half with a 15-0 run to take a commanding 37-18 lead at the break.
The Rams managed to get the Saint Louis advantage down to 12, 47-35, on a
Ivan Raut three-pointer with 11:45 remaining but that was as close as they would get.
Prokop Slanina added nine points and five rebounds for the Rams while
Will Tavares added six points and eight boards.
Takeaways
Senior
Chris Downing played a career-high 14 minutes and scored four points (Downing had two career points entering the contest).
Joseph Chartouny had no assists and no steals in the game, the first time in his career he was held without an assist and steal.
David Pekarek did not play due to injury as the Rams played just six scholarship players for the second straight game.
Saint Louis now leads the all-time series, 11-3.
The Rams are now 1-8 all-time in the Show Me State.
Fordham is now 191-208 all-time against fellow Jesuit schools.
Tonight's matchup between Saint Louis and Fordham was 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 Jesuit Basketball Spotlight (JBS) is a nationwide effort to capitalize on basketball games between Jesuit schools and, through those games, bring greater positive awareness and exposure to Jesuit education and its shared mission.
By the Numbers
3 – Assists by
Prokop Slanina, tying his career-high.
8 – Rebounds by
Ivan Raut, a season-high (previous high was seven at Rutgers).
8 – Rebounds by
Will Tavares, tying his career-high set earlier this year at Saint Joseph's.
11 – Steals recorded by Fordham, the tenth time in 22 games this year that the Rams have registered a double figure steal total.
17 – First half points by Fordham, a season-low (previous low was 18 against Florida State).
33 - Free throws attempted by Saint Louis, a season-high for a Fordham opponent.
40 – Minutes played by
Cavit Havsa, his second straight 40-minute game.
What's Next?
The Rams return to the historic Rose Hill Gym to host the George Mason University Patriots (10-12, 4-5) in an Atlantic 10 matchup on Wednesday, February 7, at 7:00 p.m.
George Mason defeated Richmond, 79-75, on Saturday in Richmond.
Fordham leads the all-time series, 6-2, but the Patriots took last year's meeting, 73-67, in Fairfax on February 11 as Otis Livingston II netted 19 points and Marquise Moore added 15 points and eleven rebounds for the Patriots while
Joseph Chartouny led all scorers in the game for the Rams with 21 points.
