Shorthanded Men’s Basketball Falls to La Salle

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham men's basketball team lived the quote from Elizabeth Edwards today who once opined, "Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before." The Rams had little time to accept their new reality as, already without the services of senior guards Antwon Portley and Erten Gazi, junior forward Chuba Ohams suffered an injury during warmups. However, Fordham gave La Salle University all it could handle before falling to the Explorers, 66-60, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 6-8 overall, 0-2 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle improves to 10-4 overall, 1-1, in the conference.
 
Junior guard Ivan Raut led the Rams with a season-high 18 points, shooting 4-for-6 from behind the arc, while sophomore guard Ty Perry added 13 points and junior guard Josh Colon finished with ten.
 
The Rams trailed by 14 at the half, 34-20, and were down by 19, 48-29, with 13:38 remaining when a Raut three-pointer started an 11-2 Fordham run as the Rams made it a ten-point game, 50-40, with 8:12 left.
 
Later in the half La Salle led by nine, 60-51, with two minutes on the clock when a pair of Perry free throws and a Raut three cut the Explorers' advantage to four, 60-56, with 37 seconds remaining. But La Salle hit all six of its free throws over the final 36 seconds for the win.
 
Takeaways
• With Ohams (first – 11.0), Portley (third – 10.6), and Gazi (fourth – 8.8), the Rams were missing three of their top four scorers.

• The Rams outscored the Explorers, 30-18, in the paint, and 17-7 in points off turnovers.
 
• Fordham's Josh Colon draw a team-high four fouls in the game, including taking two charges.
 
• Fordham played eight players while La Salle had ten players who saw action.
 
• La Salle entered the game shooting .343 from three-point range but connected on ten of 24 shots (.417) from behind the arc today.
 
• Fordham head coach Jeff Neubauer fell to 2-7 al-time against his alma mater.
 
By the Numbers
7 – Rebounds by Josh Colon, a season-high.
 
8 – Rebounds by freshman forward Joel Soriano, one shy of his season-high set last Thursday at VCU.
 
10 – Points by Josh Colon, a season-high.
 
11 – Steals by Fordham, the sixth double-digit steal game of the year for the Rams.
 
18 – Points by Ivan Raut, a season-high.
 
19 – La Salle turnovers, one shy of the Fordham opponent season-high.
 
What's Next?
• The Rams continue Atlantic 10 play on Saturday, January 11, as they travel to St. Bonaventure, N.Y., to face the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in the Reilly Center at 2:00 p.m.
 
• It will be the 43rd meeting between Fordham and St. Bo­naventure on the hardwood.
 
• The Bonnies lead the all-time series, which started in the 1955-56 season, 27-15 (two St. Bonaventure wins in 2002-03 were later forfeited for use of an ineligible player).