Men's Basketball Falls at George Mason, 71-68
Patriots hit three-pointer with under a second left for the win
Fairfax, Va. – Ryan Parson, a member of Fordham head coach
Jeff Neubauer's 2014 Ohio Valley Conference champions at Eastern Kentucky, spoke to the team prior to the pregame meal. His focus was on being there for your teammate. The Fordham men's basketball squad took that message to heart tonight as they gave it all they had but an Otis Livingston II three-pointer with under a second left to lead George Mason to a 71-68 Atlantic 10 win over Fordham in the EagleBank Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 9-9 overall, 0-5 in the Atlantic 10, while George Mason improves to 11-8 overall, 5-1 in the conference.
Freshman guard
Nick Honor led all scorers for Fordham with 21 points, shooting 4-for-6 from behind the arc, while junior guard
Antwon Portley added 13 points.
Livingston hit three free throws with 1:21 remaining to give George Mason a 68-66 lead but then fouled
Jalen Cobb, who was attempting a three, at the other end with 23 seconds left. Cobb hit two of three charity shots to tie the game at 68.
After a time out, the Patriots got the ball to Livingston on the left side and he beat the clock with a long three for the win.
Takeaways
•
Nick Honor has scored in double figures in 16 of the 18 games this year with three 20-point games.
• The Rams held George Mason to just two offensive rebounds.
• Fordham outscored the Patriots, 22-12, in bench points.
• Fordham entered the game with the third-best three-point defense in the Atlantic 10 (.294) but allowed George Mason to shoot .333 (9-27) in the game.
• The Rams committed nine of their 13 turnovers in the second half.
• GMU three-point shooting percentage
• Former Ram
Brenton Petty, who is currently a graduate assistant at Maryland, was in attendance.
By the Numbers
7 – Rebounds by
Chuba Ohams, a team-high.
9 - Number of Rams who scored in tonight's game.
9 – Largest lead for the Rams, 64-55, with 5:25 remaining.
10 – Three-pointers by Fordham, who entered t game second on the A-1o in three-pointers/game (9.1), the eighth time this season the Rams hit double figures in made threes.
31 – Rebounds by both teams, the second time this year that Fordham has tried its opponent in rebounds (Fordham is 0-2 in those games).
What's Next?
• The Rams return to the historic Rose Hill Gym to host the La Salle University Explorers in an Atlantic 10 contest on Wednesday, January 23, at 7:00 p.m.
• The Explorers lead the all-time series, which started in the 1953-54 season, 38-17.
• La Salle took both of last year's first meetings, 75-67, in Philadelphia on January 17 behind 15 points and eight rebounds from Isiah Deas and 13 points and 14 boards from Saul Phiri, and 73-60, on February 24 in the Rose Hill Gym as B.J. Johnson netted 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
