Washington, D.C. – The late Boston Celtic head coach and NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerbach, who was a regular at George Washington University basketball games, once said, "I don't believe in statistics. There are too many factors that can't be measured. You can't measure a ballplayer's heart." That is so true for the Fordham men's basketball team tonight as the Rams showed tremendous heart, battling George Washington to three overtimes before pulling out a 119-113 win in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams.
With the win, Fordham improves to 7-7 on the season while George Washington drops to 11-3.
The Rams were led by senior guard
Japhet Medor, who scored a season-high 24 points to go with four rebounds, while senior guard
Antrell Charlton netted a career-high 22 points and he grabbed six rebounds. Both Medor and Charlton connected on five three-pointers. Sophomore forward
Elijah Gray scored a career-best 22 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the field, while senior guard
Kyle Rose chipped in with a season-best 18 points and he matched his career-high with nine boards
The Rams used a school record 19 three-pointers to score the second most points in school history as Fordham played just its second triple overtime game all-time, the first since a game at Cornell in 1977.
The Rams took a two-point lead on a pair of
Elijah Gray free throws 50 seconds into the third overtime but the Revolutionaries would take a 110-108 lead with just over two minutes remaining. Back-to-back threes from Rose and Medor over the next minute gave the Rams a 114-110 lead with just over a minute on the clock and the Rams held on for the win.
Fordham almost won it after two overtimes, taking a 102-99 lead on a Gray dunk with seven seconds on the clock. However, GW's James Bishop hit the first of two free throws to make it a one-point game and then missed the second with the ball going out of bounds to the Revolutionaries with 2.2 seconds left. GW was able to inbound the ball to Darren Buchanan who dunked it with 0.7 seconds left.
Fordham forced the second overtime as a Medor layup with 28 seconds on the clock in the first extra session knotted the game at 93. George Washington had one last chance to win but
Abdou Tsimbila blocked a Bishop jumper just before the horn sounded.
After a GW layup with 26 seconds remaining in regulation tied the game at 85, the Rams had a chance for the win but Medor's driving layup in the final seconds bounced out as the game went to overtime.
The Rams led by four at the break, 48-44, but George Washington opened the second half with a 12-5 spurt to take its first lead of the night, 56-53, on a three-pointer with 16:42 left.
From that point, neither team led by more than three points with the Revolutionaries taking the final three-point lead, 83-80, with just over two minutes remaining.
Unlike previous games, the Fordham offense got off to a hot start, hitting its first three-pointers to jump put to a 9-0 lead a minute into the game.
George Washington battled back to take a 12-11 lead with 15:50 left in the half.
Later in the half, the Rams would take their largest lead of the night, 38-27, on a
Will Richardson three with 7:47 remaining before George Washington battled back to cut the Fordham lead to four at the half, 48-44.
Takeaways
• The former record for three-pointers in a game was 16, set against CCNY in 2018 (the record versus a Division I opponent was 15, set against La Salle in 2005 and matched against Coppin State in 2015).
• The 119 points are the most scored by the Rams since defeating Yale, 119-82, in 1971, and the second most in school history (school record is 128 vs. Rochester in 1970).
• Senior guard
Kyle Rose entered the game with 27 steals, third in the Atlantic 10, and he recorded three tonight.
• Senior forward
Abdou Tsimbila entered the game with 35 blocks in 12 games (2.9/game), second in the Atlantic 10 and fourth in the NCAA, and he recoded one tonight.
• Tsimbila has at least one block in 12 of his 13 games this year.
• Charlton played 49 of a possible 55 minutes in the game.
• The Rams played their third straight game without the services second leading scorer
Joshua Rivera due to injury.
• The ten first half three-pointers for the Rams are the most in a first half for the Rams since they connected on eleven vs. Columbia in 2021.
• Eleven of Fordham's 23 free throws came in the third overtime, six of those by
Elijah Gray.
• Nine of the ten Rams who played tonight scored.
• Former Ram Dan Blaine was in attendance at the game.
• Rams have won past three meetings with George Washington.
• Buchanan (38) and Bishop (32) combined to score 60 of George Washington's 114 points.
• The Revolutionaries entered the game third in the A-10 in three-pointers made/game (9.3) but only made eight tonight.
• The Revolutionaries entered the game leading the A-10 in blocks/game (6.0) and swatted seven Fordham shots.
• George Washington's roster featured eleven players who were not with the team last year.
• George Washington Assistant coach Zak Boisvert, a 2010 Fordham grad, served as a student assistant at Fordham from 2007-10.
• George Washington changed its nickname from Colonials to Revolutionaries last summer.
By the Numbers
6 - Number of different Rams to hit a three-pointer, led by
Antrell Charlton and
Japhet Medor with five each.
9 – Career-high rebounds by
Kyle Rose, his second straight game with nine rebounds.
11 – Steals by Fordham, the fifth double-digit steals game for the Rams this year.
19 - Three-pointers made by the Rams, a school record.
20 – Assists recorded by the Rams, the third time this year of 20+ assists in a game.
22 – Points scored by
Antrell Charlton, a career-high (previous high was 18 vs. Tulane earlier this year).
22 – Points scored by
Elijah Gray, a career-high (previous high was 16 vs. Wagner earlier this year).
23 – Offensive rebounds for Fordham, a season-high, which the Rams turned into 27 second half points.
48 – First half points for the Rams, a season high.
95.3 – Fordham's scoring average over past three games.
122 – Career games for
Kyle Rose, tied for fifth all-time at Fordham.
130 – Career blocks by
Abdou Tsimbila, seventh all-time at Fordham.
179 – Career steals for
Kyle Rose, eighth all-time at Fordham.
What's Next?
• The Rams continue the 2024 Atlantic 10 season by hosting the La Salle University Explorers in the historic Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, January 6, at 12:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised by the
USA Network.
• It will be the 66th meeting between Fordham and La Salle on the hardwood.
• The Explorers lead the all-time series, which started in 1953-54, 43-22, but the Rams have taken each of the last five matchups.
• The Rams won both of last year's meeting, 66-64, in Philadelphia on January 14 behind 19 points from
Will Richardson, and 69-61 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship as
Darius Quisenberry netted 22 points and
Khalid Moore added 20 points and eleven rebounds.
