ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Playing in one of the Atlantic 10's most hostile road environments, the Fordham men's basketball team weathered a series of late St. Bonaventure runs to outlast the Bonnies, 80-74, inside the Reilly Center on Saturday afternoon.
Fordham (8-8, 2-1 Atlantic 10) led by as many as eight with 8:20 to go and was ahead by seven, 65-58, following a
Kyle Rose triple with 5:57 to play. St. Bonaventure clawed back to tie the game at 70 with 1:41 remaining, but the Rams answered, as
Abdou Tsimbila drained a hook shot in the paint before coming up with a stop and a rebound on the other end.
Japhet Medor then drove and went off-glass to make it a four-point game with 43 seconds to go.
St. Bonaventure got back within two, but the Rams came up clutch at the free throw line in the closing seconds; after going 9-for-17 from the stripe over the first 39:38 of Saturday's contest, the Rams finished with six straight makes to seal the victory.
The Bonnies (10-5, 1-2 Atlantic 10) entered the weekend ranked 64th in the NET and 74th according to KenPom. The win marked the Rams' third straight over the Bonnies dating back to last season.
Rose scored a season-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting to lead the Rams. The senior connected on three of his seven tries from downtown and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the line in addition to pulling down seven rebounds.
Medor tallied 16 points in 36 minutes of action, marking his fifth straight game with 15 or more for the Rams.
Elijah Gray went 3-for-6 from the field and made all four of his free throw tries to finish with 10 points. The sophomore also grabbed five boards.
Antrell Charlton tallied nine points, sinking all four of his chances from the charity stripe. The senior also dished out a team-high three assists.
Romad Dean was perfect from the floor, making all three of his field goal tries, including a pair of triples, to finish with eight points.
As a team, Fordham committed just nine turnovers and held even on the boards, 34-34, despite St. Bonaventure owning a size advantage.
The opening half was a back-and-forth affair, as the two teams combined for 14 lead changes and seven ties during that span. Neither team led by more than four until the final minute of the period, when Medor and Dean each converted on a driving layup to put the Rams ahead by five. Fordham held a 44-39 edge at the intermission.
The Rams shot 53 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including a 6-for-16 (37.5%) effort from deep.
Fordham bumped its lead to seven early in the second stanza before the Bonnies trimmed it down to two, 48-46, on a Charles Pride layup near the 15-minute mark.
St. Bonaventure came within two on three more occasions over the next five minutes before a 6-0 Fordham burst gave the Rams their largest lead of the game, 62-54, on a
Joshua Rivera layup with 8:46 to play. Rivera returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 16 after missing four games with a lower-body injury.
The Bonnies slowly chipped away at the Fordham lead to tie it at 70 with under two minutes to play. The home side, however, would never retake the lead, as the Rams quickly answered with a Tsimbila bucket and held serve the rest of the way.
The Rams will return to action with a pair of home games this coming week, welcoming Davidson on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. before hosting Loyola Chicago on Saturday at 1 p.m. Tickets to both games are included as part of the Rams' Atlantic 10 Mini Plan, which grants fans access to five conference home games for as little as $80.
