Richmond, Va. – Busch Gardens Williamsburg is located just down Route 64 from Richmond and is known for its extreme roller coasters. Tonight, the Fordham men's basketball's team experienced its own roller coaster ride, jumping out to an early eleven-point lead, falling behind by 18 in the second half and coming all the way back to take a late one-point lead before falling to Richmond, 72-69, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Robins Center on Wednesday.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 11-15 overall, 2-11 in the Atlantic 10, while Richmond improves to 11-15, 5-8 in the conference.
"That was a terrific college basketball game," said Fordham head coach
Jeff Neubauer. "I'm proud of our team to be down as much as we were and fight back to take a late lead. We just didn't have value for the ball in the first half which was the difference in the game."
Freshman guard
Nick Honor led all scorers in the game for the Rams with 23 points, hitting five three-pointers, while junior guard
Antwon Portley and junior forward
Jesse Bunting each added 13.
The Rams got off to a hot start, taking an 15-6 lead just under seven minutes into the game and led by eight, 23-15, with 7:42 left. But the Spiders got hot and outscored the Rams 23-3 the rest of the way to take a 38-26 lead at the break.
Richmond extended the lead to 18, 53-35, five minutes into the second half and the Spider led by 13, 65-52, with 6:37 remaining when a
Ty Perry three ignited a 13-0 run as the Rams knotted the game at 65 on an Honor three with 2:54 left.
Trailing by one with under a minute on the clock, a Bunting layup with 38 seconds left gave Fordham a 69-68 lead, the first Fordham lead in over 20 minutes.
But a Grant Golden jumper 18 seconds later gave Richmond a 70-68 lead and Honor missed a three with two seconds remaining before the Spiders hit two free throws to ice the game with under a second left.
Takeaways
• Honor has scored in double figures in 24 of the 26 games this year, including the past nine games.
• Fordham entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in turnover margin (+3.5) but committed 14 turnovers tonight to eight for Richmond.
• Fordham outrebounded the Spiders, 39-31, and the Rams are now 5-4 this season when outrebounding its opponent.
• The Rams were looking for their first three-game A-10 road winning streak since 2007.
• Richmond entered the game second in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage (.478) and shot .474 (27-57) tonight.
• Conversely, the Spiders entered the game last in field goal defense (.471) in the conference and held the Rams to shooting .397 (25-63) in the game.
• Junior
Chuba Ohams is averaging 9.1 ppg and 7.8 rpg over the last eight games while junior
Jesse Bunting is averaging 10.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg over the past six while shooting .614 (27-44) from the field.
• The game was played on
Jesse Bunting's birthday.
By the Numbers
0 – Offensive rebounds for Richmond, the first Fordham opponent this year to not have an offensive rebound.
4 – 20-point games for
Nick Honor this year (along with one 30-ponint game).
13 – Second chance points for the Rams.
13 – Rebounds for
Chuba Ohams, tying his career-high set against FIU earlier this year.
What's Next?
• The Rams return to action by hosting the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies for an Atlantic 10 contest in the historic Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, February 23, at 4:30 p.m.
• It will be the 42nd meeting between Fordham and St. Bonaventure on the hardwood.
• The Bonnies lead the all-time series, which started in the 1955-56 season, 26-15 (two St. Bonaventure wins in 2002-03 were later forfeited for use of an ineligible player).
