Men’s Basketball Sends Grads Away with a Win

Bronx, N.Y. – In Durham, N.C., the all-time winningest college basketball coach was appearing in his final home game. However, for Fordham men's basketball fans, the biggest game featuring someone who was playing in their final home game occurred in the historic Rose Hill Gym. Grad student forward Chuba Ohams, playing in his 54th career game in the iconic venue, set a school record with his 20th double-double of the year, scoring 23 points and adding 16 rebounds to lead Fordham to a 70-66 Atlantic 10 win over George Washington University.
 
With the win, Fordham closes out the regular season with a 15-15 overall record, 8-10 in the Atlantic 10, while George Washington closes out its season with a 12-17 overall mark, 8-9 in the conference.
 
Ohams matched his career-high with the 23 points, and had five assists and two blocks to go with his 16 rebounds. Grad student guards Darius Quisenberry and Josh Colon-Navarro, who was also appearing in his final home game, finished in double figures for Fordham, with Quisenberry scoring 18 and Colon-Navarro 13.
 
In the first game of 2022 that was open to all fans to attend, the Rams made sure those who showed up stayed until the end.
 
The score was tied at 61 with 3:07 remaining when an Antrell Charlton layup gave Fordham a 63-61 lead. Fourteen seconds later, the Colonials connected on one of two free throws to make it a one-point game but a Colon-Navarro layup at 2:29 bumped the lead back to three, 65-62.
 
George Washington managed to get the Fordham advantage down to two three times over the final 14 seconds, the last at 68-66, with three seconds left. The Colonials then attempted to purposely miss the second of two free throws but were called for a lane violation when the ball failed to hit the rim. Following a timeout, Charlton found a streaking Quisenberry with a long pass in the frontcourt and Quisenberry went in for a layup with just over a second left to seal the game for the Rams.
 
Fordham jumped out to an early 12-4 lead but George Washington whittled away at the lead and took a 36-34 lead into halftime.
 
The Rams outscored the Colonials 21-7 to open the second half to take their biggest lead of the day, 55-43, following a Quisenberry driving layup with 8:47 on the clock, before the Fordham offense went cold, allowing George Washington to go on a 18-6 run to knot the game at 61.
 
Takeaways
• Ohams and Colon-Navarro were honored before the game along with senior managers Will DeVizio and Nick Tasolides.
 
• Darius Quisenberry has scored in double figures in 22 of his 25 games this year with five 20-point games.
 
• Over the past eight games Chuba Ohams is averaging 18.0 ppg and 12.5 rpg.
 
 
• Chuba Ohams has dished out five assists in each of the past three games.
 
• Josh Colon-Navarro is averaging 11.3 ppg over the past eleven games.
 
• Eight of the ten Rams who played in the game scored.
 
• There was a moment of silence prior to the game in solidarity with the people of Ukraine in support of Fordham's Rostyslav Novitskyi.
 
• Fordham held George Washington's leading scorer James Bishop, who entered the game averaging 17.1 ppg (second in the A-10), to eight points.
 
• The Rams outscored the Colonials 36-24 in the paint.
 
• Fordham finishes the regular season with a .500 or better record for the first time since the 2015-2016 season.
 
• Former Fordham players Will Tavares and Thomas Sanchez attended the game.
 
• The win snapped a three-game Fordham losing streak to George Washington.
 
• The Fordham coaching staff wore blue Autism Speaks puzzle-piece pins to display their support for the autism community.
 
By the Numbers
3 – Blocks for Rostyslav Novitskyi, a season-high.
 
10 – Home wins for the Rams in 2021-2022, the most since the 2015-2016 (14).
 
20 – Double-doubles on the year for Chuba Ohams, breaking Chris Gaston's record of 19 set in 2009-2010.
 
23 – Points for Chuba Ohams, matching his career-high set against UMass on Monday.
 
25 – Career double-doubles for Chuba Ohams.
 
112 – Career blocks for Chuba Ohams, moving him ahead of Sanford Jenkins (1988-1992) and into seventh all-time at Fordham.
 
666 – All-time wins for the Rams in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
720 – Career rebounds for Chuba Ohams, 12th on the Fordham career rebounding list.
 
1,545 – All-time wins for the Rams.
 
What's Next?
• Fordham will open play at the 2022 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship on Thursday, March 10, against George Mason at noon.
 
• The Rams entered the championships as the eight seed while George Mason is the ninth seed.
 
• The eight-seed is Fordham's highest seed since the Rams were also seeded eighth in 2016.

• The Rams defeated the Patriots, 50-47, in the lone meeting this year.