St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. – Despite Fordham University and Abilene Christian University having never met in men's basketball prior to today, the two schools do share some history, dating back to the 1956 Olympics. At those Olympics Games, Fordham's Tom Courtney and Abilene Christian's Bobby Morrow were teammates on the U.S. Track and Field Team. While Courtney won a pair of gold medals Morrow did him one better, bringing home three golds medals. Tonight the Wildcats continued that trend of bettering the Rams, defeating Fordham 59-45 in a winner's bracket game of the 2023 Paradise Jam at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center.
With the loss, Fordham evens its record at 2-2 while Abilene Christian improves to 3-2.
Senior forward
Abdou Tsimbila led the Rams with his first double-double of the year, scoring eleven points and grabbing eleven rebounds while senior guard
Japhet Medor also finished in double figures with ten points.
Trailing by 16 at the half, 32-16, the Ram offense heated up in the second half as Fordham used a 12-7 run to shave a 15-point Wildcat lead down to ten, 48-38, on a pair of Medor free throws with 9:15 remaining.
But the Fordham offense went cold again as Abilene Christian scored the next eleven points to take a commanding 59-38 lead with 5:34 left in the game.
The Rams got off to a slow start as Abilene Christian scored the first 12 points of the game before a
Will Richardson layup got Fordham on the board with 14:11 left in the half.
A pair of
Antrell Charlton free throws pulled the Rams to within nine, 18-9, with 7:26 remaining but the Wildcats outscored Fordham 14-7 the rest of the half to take a 32-16 lead at the break.
Takeaways
• The double-double was the third of Tsimbila's career.
• The Rams shot 20.4% (5-24) in the first half, a season low in a half for Fordham this year.
• Fordham fell despite outrebounding the Wildcats, 46-31.
• Among the 46 Fordham rebounds were 17 offensive boards.
• Unlike the first game of the Paradise Jam, the Rams never led in the contest.
• This is Fordham's third appearance at the Paradise Jam (2005 and 2019).
By the Numbers
1 – Three-pointers made by the Rams, a season-low.
3 - Blocks by the Rams, led by two from Tsimbila.
17 - Offensive rebounds by the Rams.
What's Next?
• The Rams will play Kent State University in the third place game of the 2023 Paradise Jam on Monday, November 20, at 5:45 p.m. (ET).
• Fordham is 0-1 all-time vs. Kent State, falling to the Golden Flashes, 70-61, on December 12, 1975 at the Marshall Invitational.
• Fordham is 2-7 all-time against teams in the MAC.
