Charlton's Game Winner
PHILADELPHIA- With less than one second remaining and the score deadlocked at 64,
Antrell Charlton elevated over his defender and drained a decisive midrange jumper, propelling the Rams to a 66-64 win over La Salle on Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.
With the win, the first conference road victory of the
Keith Urgo Era at Fordham, the Rams improved to 14-4 overall, 2-3 in Atlantic 10 play. The Explorers fell to 8-9, 2-2 in the league.
Charlton filled the stat sheet for the Rams, posting nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and five boards to go along with team highs of three steals and two blocks.
Making his second start of the season, freshman guard
Will Richardson was sensational. The Teaneck, N.J., native scored 17 of his career-high 19 points in the opening half, shooting 7-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-6 from deep on the afternoon.
Darius Quisenberry, who came off the bench for the first time this season, netted 12 points and dished out a game-high five assists in 27 minutes of action.
Khalid Moore tallied his fourth double-double of the year, logging 11 points and 12 rebounds, including a crucial put-back and-one with 35 seconds to play that erased Fordham's final deficit of the game.
Coming off the bench for the first time this season,
Abdou Tsimbila added six points, three boards and a pair of blocks.
Patrick Kelly drained both of his field goal attempts for five points during a crucial second-half stretch for the Rams.
Making his first start of the season,
Rostyslav Novitskyi grabbed seven boards and chipped in four points despite some early foul trouble.
Kyle Rose recorded three of the Rams' 10 steals, just one off the team's season-high of 11 set against VCU on Dec. 22.
Fordham, which has emerged victorious in 14 of its first 18 games for the first time since 1970-71, has now won four straight contests against La Salle dating back to 2021.
The teams traded buckets in the game's opening minutes before La Salle took its largest lead of the afternoon, 16-9, after scoring five unanswered with 12:45 remaining until the intermission.
The next eight minutes of game play were all Fordham, as the Rams rattled off a 23-4 run to open a 32-20 lead. After a bucket from Tsimbila to start the spurt, Quisenberry dropped in a floater through contact before draining a pair of long-range tries. The graduate student then handed the baton to Richardson, as the freshman scored 17 of the Rams' next 19 points to end the half and send Fordham into the locker room with a 38-30 edge.
Fordham scored the first bucket of the second half to extend its lead back to double digits, but the Explorers responded with a 7-0 burst to pull within three, 40-37, with about five minutes gone in the latter stanza.
The Rams maintained their advantage until La Salle's Khalil Brantley unleashed a personal 8-0 run, giving La Salle a 58-55 lead with 6:46 to go, its first since the 9:10 mark of the first half. Brantley, a Brooklyn native, scored 19 points on the afternoon.
Quisenberry answered with a turnaround jumper to bring the Rams back within one before Anwar Gill scored to bump the La Salle lead back to three. Fordham responded again, as Tsimbila converted on a layup to make it a one-point game, 60-59, with 5:37 to go.
Neither side found the bottom of the bucket over the next three minutes before Richardson scored his first points of the second half on a driving layup to put Fordham back in front by one, 61-60, with 2:14 to play.
After a Fordham foul late in the shot clock, Fousseyni Drame sank two free throws to put La Salle back in front before Moore converted on a crucial second-chance and-one to give Fordham a two-point edge, 64-62, with 35 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession, Drame recorded another 2-for-2 trip to the stripe with 14 seconds to go to set up the final play of the contest.
After a Fordham timeout, Quisenberry brought the ball across the timeline and quickly drew a double team. He passed the ball off to Charlton on the left wing. The junior guard took a hard step toward the elbow before crossing back to his left. With a defender in his face, Charlton pump faked before rising over his man and calmly cashing a 17-footer, sealing the Fordham victory.
The Rams will return to action in one week, traveling to Pittsburgh for a 2 p.m. matchup against Duquesne on Jan. 21.
