BRONX, N.Y.- Anchored by a stellar second-half shooting performance, the Fordham men's basketball team ended the non-conference portion of its schedule with an 87-78 win over Columbia in the Tom Konchalski Classic on Saturday afternoon inside the Rose Hill Gym.
After shooting 10-of-36 from the field in the opening stanza and missing its first two field goal attempts of the second half, Fordham converted on 18 of its final 28 attempts (64.3%) from the floor. The Rams connected on eight of their 14 chances (57.1%) from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes after going just 3-for-19 in the opening period.
The Rams (6-7) also locked down defensively in a second half that saw them outscore the visiting Lions, 56-40. Columbia (8-4) shot just 37.8 percent from the floor and 30.8 percent from deep in the final period after shooting 46.2 and 55.6 percent, respectively, in those categories during the opening half.
Five Rams finished in double figures for the third time this season. Japhet Medor scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half, including a pair of crucial 3-pointers. Will Richardson tallied 15 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and only one turnover in 28 minutes of action.
Abdou Tsimbila took home the Jim O'Connell MVP Award as the most outstanding player of the Konchalski Classic after logging 14 points, seven boards and seven blocks, six of which came in the second half. O'Connell, a 2002 winner of the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Award, spent 40 years as the Associated Press' national college basketball writer of record before passing away in 2018. He got his first break in the business as Fordham's SID from 1976-78. O'Connell's wife, the former Anne Gregory, is the leading scorer (2,548) and rebounder (1,999) in Fordham basketball history.
Antrell Charlton went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line in the final minute of play on his way to 11 points. Zach Riley connected on three of his five 3-point attempts, finishing with a season-high 10 points and three boards in 17 minutes of action.
Despite scoring just two points, Kyle Rose grabbed a career-high nine rebounds in addition to dishing out three assists and swiping three steals.
Romad Dean chipped in eight points, including a pair of crucial second-half buckets, in 17 minutes of action. Elijah Gray added seven points and four boards.
The Konchalski Classic is named after Tom KonchalsKi, FCRH '68, a legendary scout and publisher of High School Basketball Illustrated who passed away in 2021. Konchalski, an unrivaled basketball mind and gifted raconteur who made a lasting impression on every level of the basketball world, received the Basketball Hall of Fame's John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
Columbia found it tough to miss in the early going of the game, making six of its first nine field goal attempts and grabbing a 16-6 lead near the 14-minute mark of the half.
The Rams slowly chipped away at the Columbia advantage over the rest of the period, pulling within two, 26-24, on an old-fashioned three-point play from Richardson with just under seven minutes to go. The Lions, however, built their lead back to seven, 38-31, by the time the buzzer sounded.
Columbia opened the second stanza with five straight points, quickly expanding its edge back to double digits, 43-31, with less than two minutes gone in the frame. Facing its largest deficit of the game, Fordham began to claw its way back. The Rams outscored the Lions, 14-5, over the next four and a half minutes, pulling within three, 48-45, on a pair of Gray free throws with 13:55 remaining.
The Lions bumped their cushion back to seven, 52-45, before a 9-2 Fordham run evened the score for the first time, 54-54, on a Richardson trey with 11:51 to go.
A 6-0 Columbia burst gave the Lions a 62-56 lead just past the midway mark of the second half before the Rams locked in, holding Columbia without a point for the next five minutes and eight seconds of game play. During that time, Fordham rattled off 12 unanswered points with five apiece coming from Medor and Gray to take a 68-62 edge with just over four minutes remaining in the contest.
Fordham climbed ahead by as many as eight before Columbia whittled the lead down to three, 78-75, on a Josh Odunowo three-point play with 1:23 to go. On the ensuing Fordham possession, Richardson found Medor in the corner and the fifth-year senior calmly buried a triple to restore the Fordham lead to six, 81-75.
From there, Charlton provided the remainder of the Rams' scoring, going a flawless 6-for-6 from the stripe en route to an 87-78 Fordham win.
Fordham will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 3, when it travels to the nation's capital to begin Atlantic 10 play at George Washington. The contest will tip off at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
