Men’s Basketball Falls to Richmond

Bronx, N.Y. - Ethyl Chloride is actually the little-known Kryptonite to Spider-Man. This compound is what makes up bug spray, and it can in fact be used in real life to kill actual spiders. The Fordham men's basketball team could have used some ethyl chloride tonight as the first place University of Richmond Spiders shot a blistering 58.5% from the field as they handed the Rams an 83-69 setback in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 9-12 overall, 3-5 in the Atlantic 10, while Richmond improves to 16-5 overall, a perfect 8-0 in the conference.
 
Fordham was led by sophomore guard Will Richardson who finished with 16 points, shooting 3-for-5 from behind the arc, and he dished out four assists while sophomore forward Elijah Gray added 14 points and six rebounds and senior guard Kyle Rose recorded ten points and seven boards.
 
Fordham took a 2-0 lead five seconds into the game on an alley-oop from Antrell Charlton to Romad Dean and the Rams led by one, 5-4, two minutes later when Richmond used a 9-2 to take a 13-7 lead with 13 minutes remaining.
 
The Rams cut the Spider lead to three, 21-18, on a Dean three with 7:14 on the clock before Richmond went on a 21-11 run to take a 42-29 lead with under a minute remaining in the half.
 
Fordham managed to cut the deficit to nine at the break, 42-33, and after going down 12 early in the second half, 45-33, the Rams used a 10-2 run to make it a four point game, 47-43, on a Joshua Rivera jumper off an offensive rebound with 14:42 left.
 
But Richmond scored the next eight points to take a 55-43 lead 2:20 later and would get the lead to as many as 20 before Fordham scored the last six points of the game for the 83-69 final.
 
Takeaways
• Redshirt freshman Noah Best scored his first collegiate points with a basket late in the game.
 
• Over the past five games Antrell Charlton has dished out 21 assists with only four turnovers.
 
• Kyle Rose is averaging 11.3 ppg and 6.5 rpg over the past ten games.
 
• Over the past eight games, sophomore forward Elijah Gray is averaging 14.3 ppg and 5.8 rpg.
 
• Fordham's Abdou Tsimbila did not register a block, only the second time in 20 games that he failed to block at least one shot this year.
 
• The Rams outrebounded the Spiders, 32-28.
 
• Fordham outscored Richmond 13-0 in second chance points.
 
• The Rams wore their gray uniforms for the first time this year.
 
• Four of the five Spider starters were NCAA Div. I transfers.
 
• Richmond entered the game averaging just 8.5 turnovers/game but the Rams forced eleven Spider miscues tonight.
 
By the Numbers
1 – Offensive rebounds by Richmond.
 
2 – Blocks by Antrell Charlton, tying his career-high.
 
3 – Steals by Jahmere Tripp, a season-high.
 
100 - Collegiate games played by Abdou Tsimbila.
 
129 – Career games for Kyle Rose, a school record.
 
What's Next?
• The Rams continue the 2024 Atlantic 10 season by traveling to St. Louis, Mo., to face the Saint Louis University Billikens in Chaifetz Arena on Saturday, February 3, at 2:30 p.m. (ET)
 
• It will be the 20th meeting between Fordham and Saint Louis on the hardwood.
 
• The Billikens lead the all-time series, which started in 1971-72, 15-4.
 
• Fordham took last year's meeting, 75-65, on January 31 in the Rose Hill Gym as Darius Queensberry netted a game-high 27 points and Khalid Moore added 20 points and nine boards.
 
• The win snapped a five-game winning streak in the series for Saint Louis.