Philadelphia, Pa. – 100 years ago today the first
Reader's Digest was published. One of the pages of the magazine was titled "Drama in Real Life"." That could best describe today's Fordham-Saint Joseph's Atlantic 10 men's basketball game as the contest came down to the final seconds when a
Darius Quisenberry half-court three bounced off the backboard as the Rams fell to the Hawks, 72-69, in Hagan Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 10-11 overall, 3-6 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's improves to 10-11 overall, 4-6 in the conference.
Quisenberry, a grad student guard, led Fordham with 19 points while sophomore guard
Kyle Rose added 15 points, and grad student forward
Chuba Ohams added 12 points and six rebounds.
The Rams trailed by seven, 67-60, with just over a minute remaining but Quisenberry cut the deficit to four with his first three of the game with 58 seconds left.
Quisenberry stole the ensuing inbounds pass and laid the ball into make it a 67-64 game but the Rams went scoreless over the next 37 seconds as the Hawks built the lead back to five, 70-65.
A Quisenberry layup at the14 second mark made it a 70-67 contest and, after a pair of Saint Joseph's free throws, a Rose basket made it 72-69 with eight ticks on the clock.
After Saint Joseph's missed two free throws, Ohams grabbed the rebound and fed Quisenberry who got off a shot from half court that bounced away.
Fordham led 23-14 with 5:47 left in the first following an
Abdou Tsimbila basket but Saint Joseph's responded with an 11-2 run, ignited by three straight three-pointers, to tie the game at 25 with 3:41 remaining.
A Rose three at 2:26 gave the Rams a 28-25 lead but two Hawk threes in the final 2:26, sandwiched around a Quisenberry jumper, gave the home team a 31-30 lead at the break.
Takeaways
• Fordham fell despite outrebounding the Hawks, 41-28.
• The Rams outscored Saint Joseph's 46-28 in the paint.
• The Fordham bench outscored the Hawk bench 15-0.
• The Rams held Saint Joseph's second leading scorer Taylor Funk to just seven points, five of those coming from the free throwline.
• Fordham's
Kyle Rose and Saint Joseph's Cameron Brown played together at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland.
• Both Fordham head coach
Kyle Neptune and Saint Joseph's head coach Billy Lange served as assistants at Villanova.
• Sophomore guard
Albe Evans, who hails from Schuylkill Haven, Pa., had a large (and loud) assemblage of family and friends at the game.
By the Numbers
7 – Rebounds by
Abdou Tsimbila, tying his career-high.
14 – Offensive rebounds for the Rams.
17 – Second chance points for Fordham.
+12 –
Josh Colon-Navarro's +/- for the game.
100 – Career blocks for
Chuba Ohams, tenth all-time for the Rams.
609 – Career rebounds for
Chuba Ohams, 20th all-time at Fordham.
1,584 – Career points scored by
Darius Quisenberry.
What's Next?
• The Rams return to action and continue Atlantic 10 play on Tuesday, February 8, as they travel to St. Bonaventure, N.Y., to face the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in the Reilly Center at 7:00 p.m.
• It will be the second of three straight road games for the Rams.
• It will be the 46th meeting between Fordham and St. Bonaventure on the hardwood.
• The Bonnies lead the all-time series, which started in the 1955- 56 season, 30-15 (two St. Bonaventure wins in 2002-03 were later forfeited for use of an ineligible player).
