Men's Basketball Pulls Out Thriller Over George Mason

Box Score Bronx, N.Y. – The NFL team that shares a nickname with George Mason University is used to stunning comeback wins. But tonight it was the Patriots' opponent who accomplished an amazing come-from-behind win as the Fordham University Rams rebounded from a 17-point first half deficit to defeat George Mason, 67-66, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham improves to 8-15 overall, 3-8 in the Atlantic 10, while George Mason falls to 10-14 overall, 4-7 in the conference.
 
The Rams were led by junior forward Prokop Slanina, who scored a game-high 17 points while also grabbing five rebounds, blocking four shots and recording three steals. He was joined in double figures by freshman guard/forward Ivan Raut, who netted 16 points, and senior guard Will Tavares and junior guard Joseph Chartouny, who each scored eleven points. Tavares added a career-high eleven rebounds for his first career double-double while Chartouny added five steals.
 
Fordham trailed by seven, 48-41, with 11:14 left on a Greg Calixte dunk when the Rams used a 17-8 spurt to take their first lead of the night, 58-56, on a Raut three with 6:06 remaining.
 
An Otis Livingston II three-pointer with 4:22 on the clock gave the Patriots a 61-60 lead but that would be the visitor's final lead of the night as 16 seconds later a Cavit Havsa driving layup put the Rams up for good, 62-61.
 
But the Patriots didn't go away, pulling within one, 67-66, following an Ian Boyd jumper with 40 seconds left and the Rams turned the ball over with 14 seconds remaining. But Chartouny was able to get a hand on a Javon Green layup in the final seconds and Tavares grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Tavares was unable to connect on the front end of a one-and-one and George Mason took over with three seconds left but a Livingston half court-shot at the buzzer came up short.
 

After Fordham jumped out to an 8-4 lead six minutes into the game, George Mason scored 21 unanswered points to take a 25-8 lead following a Justin Kier layup with 6:03 left in the half and the Patriots bumped the lead to 17, 33-16 on a Javon Green three with 2:41 on the clock.
 
The Rams scored the final seven points of the first half, five of those from Raut, to trim the George Mason lead to ten at the break, 33-23.
 
Takeaways
Cavit Havsa was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, hitting his lone three-pointer, and added a career-high five rebounds.
 
Havsa played all 40 minutes for the third straight game (Havsa had played 277 total minutes in the first 19 games of the year).
 
Prokop Slanina matched his career-high with the four blocks.
 
The Rams missed their first eleven three-point shots of the night before connecting on 13 of their final 26.
 
Fordham won for the third time in 15 games when trailing at the half.
 
The Rams were victorious for the third time in 17 games when scoring 69 or fewer points this year.
 
Fordham now leads the all-time series with George Mason, 7-2.
 
By the Numbers
5 – Steals by Joseph Chartouny, tying his season-high.
 
7 – Blocks by Fordham tonight, a season-high (previous high was five vs. UMass).
 
8 – Assists by Cavit Havsa, a career-high (previous high was six at La Salle in 2017).
 
11 – Rebounds by Will Tavares, a career-high (previous high was eight which he accomplished twice, most recently at Saint Louis on Saturday).
 
13 – Three-pointers made by the Rams, a season-high (previous high was 12 set against Florida A&M and matched against UMass).
 
77 – Steals this season by Joseph Chartouny, the third most in a season by a Ram (Chartouny holds the single season record of 94, set last year).
 
227 – Career steals for Joseph Chartouny, who had five tonight, moving him into a third place tie on the Fordham career list with Jason Harris (1997-2001).
 
406 – Career assists for Joseph Chartouny, who had two tonight, placing him sixth on the Fordham all-time assists list.
 
639 – All-time wins in the Rose Hill Gym for Fordham.
 
1,516 – All-time wins for the Rams.
 
What's Next?
The Rams travel to Pittsburgh to face the Duquesne University Dukes in an Atlantic 10 matchup in the A.J. Palumbo Center on Saturday, February 10, at 12:00 p.m.
 
Duquesne leads the all-time series, 22-15.
 
The Dukes have taken the past two meetings, including a 64-41 win in the Rose Hill Gym earlier this year (January 6) as Rene Castro-Kennedy netted 21 points for Duquesne.