Men's Basketball Falls to Davidson

Bronx, N.Y. – It's safe to say that Charles Darwin, who was born 210 years ago today, never saw a basketball game, though he was a fan of backgammon which he played every night in the last years of his life. If he were around tonight, Darwin would have looked at the two basketball teams playing in the Rose Hill Gym and have hypothesized that natural selection would favor Davidson College, who entered the game in first place in the Atlantic 10, over Fordham University, who entered in last. However, the Rams battled for survival the entire game, before finally falling to the defending conference champions, 79-69, in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 10-14 overall, 1-10 in the Atlantic 10, while Davidson improves to 18-6 overall, 9-2 in the conference.
 
Freshman guard Nick Honor and Jalen Cobb each netted 16 for the Rams, with Honor dishing out four assists and Cobb grabbing four rebounds to go with three steals. Junior guard Antwon Portley added eleven points and five assists for Fordham.
 
Fordham trailed by 17, 67-50, with 6:18 remaining but scored ten straight to cut the deficit to seven, 67-60, on a pair of Honor free throws.
 
The Rams trailed by seven again with 1:56 left, 71-64, and Davidson missed back-to-back threes but got the rebound after each missed and used a pair of free throws to bump the lead to nine, 73-64, with under a minute remaining.
 
An Honor three at the 43-second mark made it a six-point game, 73-67, but the Rams could get no closer.
 
Takeaways
• Honor, the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, has scored in double figures in 22 of the 24 games this year.
 
• Davidson led the Atlantic 10 in three-pointers/game entering the contest (9.4) but were held to just six tonight by the Rams.
 
• Fordham entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in turnover margin (+3.4) and committed just seven miscues to eleven by Davidson.
 
• The Rams outscored Davidson 22-3 off the bench, led by nine points from Ivan Raut and seven from Onyi Eyisi.
 
• The Wildcats outscored the Rams 42-18 in the paint.
 
By the Numbers
8 – Assists by Davidson's Jon Axel Gudmunsson, a season-high for a Fordham opponent.
 
11 – Three-pointers made by Fordham, the tenth time this year they have connected on ten or more long-range shots.
 
17 – Double-digit scoring games this year for Antwon Portley.
 
219 – Three-pointers made this year by Fordham, the seventh most in a season in school history.
 
What's Next?
• The Rams return to action by traveling to Kingston, R.I., to face the defending Atlantic 10 champions, the University of Rhode Island Rams in the Ryan Center on Saturday, February 16, at 2:00 p.m.
 
• It will be the will be the 67th meeting between Fordham and Rhode Island on the hardwood.
 
• Rhode Island leads the all-time series, which started in the 1941-42 season, 38-28.
 
• Rhode Island won last year's meeting, 78-58, in the Rose Hill Gym behind 20 points from Andre Berry and 17 from Jared Terrell while Will Tavares led Fordham with 17.