Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Fordham men's basketball team meeting room at the hotel was the Jimmy Stewart Room, named for the famous actor who hailed from nearby Indiana, Pa. It's been said that for the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", Jimmy Stewart swabbed his throat with mercury to make his voice hoarse, as if he really had been filibustering for 23 hours. Fordham head coach
Keith Urgo needed no such thing today as his voice is hoarse from encouraging his troops to another come-from-behind win as the Rams knocked off Duquesne University, 65-58, in an Atlantic 10 game in the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
With the win, Fordham improves to 15-4 overall, 3-3 in the Atlantic 10, while Duquesne falls to 13-7 overall, 3-4 in the conference.
The game marked the first back-to-back Atlantic 10 wins for Fordham in consecutive games on the road since 2007. It also is the first time since 2007 that the Rams are .500 or better in Atlantic 10 play after six games.
Grad student forward
Khalid Moore led all scorer with 19 points and he added seven rebounds while grad student guard
Darius Quisenberry added 14 points, 12 of those in the second half, and he dished out three assists.
The Rams led for most of the first half, taking their biggest lead at 23-17 on a Tsimbila put back with 1:36 left, before Duquesne outscored the Rams 8-0 to close out the half, taking a 25-23 halftime lead on a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Dukes continued the run to open the second half, scoring the first six points to build their lead to 31-23, 2:19 into the half.
The Rams trailed by six, 48-42, with 6:27 remaining but scored 15 unanswered points to take a 57-48 lead on a Quisenberry three with 2:44 left. The closest the Duke would get from that point would be five, 60-55, with 1:13 on the clock.
Takeaways
•
Will Richardson and
Rostyslav Novitskyi started for the second straight game.
•
Will Richardson average 12.7 ppg over past three games.
•
Antrell Charlton and
Khalid Moore are the lone Rams to start every game this year.
• The starting lineup was Fordham's third different starting lineup of the year.
•
Abdou Tsimbila blocked two shots today and has at least one block in 17 of the 19 games this year.
• It was a sort of homecoming for Fordham assistant coaches
Tray Woodall and
Ronald Ramon who both played their college basketball down the street at the University of Pittsburgh.
• Duquesne's Tre Williams is the lone Duke to have played in either of the games with Fordham last year.
• Duquesne entered the game leading the A-10 in three-point field goal percentage (.376) but shot just .188 (3-16) today)
• The two teams will meet again on March 4 in the Rose Hill Gym in the final regular season game of the year.
By the Numbers
3 – Blocks by
Kyle Rose, tying his career-high.
16 – Offensive rebounds for Fordham, tying a season-high.
45 – Total rebounds for the Rams, one shy of their season-high.
74.9 – Duquesne's season scoring averaging entering the game, third in the Atlantic 10.
1,930 – Career collegiate points for
Darius Quisenberry.
What's Next?
• The Rams continue the 2022-2023 Atlantic 10 season by traveling to St. Bonaventure, N.Y., to face the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in the Reilly Center on Wednesday, January 25, at 7:00 p.m.
• It will be the 47th meeting between Fordham and St. Bonaventure on the hardwood.
• It will be the third of three straight road games for the Rams.
• The Bonnies lead the all-time series, which started in the 1955-56 season, 31-15 (two St. Bonaventure wins in 2002-03 were later forfeited for use of an ineligible player).
