Jamaica, N.Y. – The Fordham men's basketball squad can take a page from author Nido Qubein who once said, "Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go they merely determine where you start." The Rams present circumstances weren't how they planned on starting the 2024-25 season, falling to St. John's University, 92-60, in Carnesecca Arena, but some new faces showed that Fordham is headed in the right direction.
Senior guard
Jackie Johnson III, playing in his first regular season game for the Rams, led all scorers with 23 points, hitting three three-pointers, while junior forward
Joshua Rivera also finished in double figures with eleven points to go with six rebounds.
The game started slow offensively with the teams exchanging three-pointers over the first minute before the Red Storm ran off nine straight points to take a 12-3 lead with 13:50 left in the first.
Fordham responded with a Rivera bucket and five points from Johnson to pull within two, 12-10, two minutes later.
A Rivera three with 7:54 on the clock pulled the Rams within two, 19-17, but St. John's netted 17 of the next 20 points to take a 36-20 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the half.
A Johnson three just before the halftime buzzer cut the Red Storm lead to 14 at the break 40-26.
A
Romad Dean three-pointer 44 seconds into the second half made it an eleven point game, 40-29, and the Rams had a few opportunities to get the deficit down to single digits over the next two minutes but couldn't.
St. John's then used a 9-3 spurt to take a commanding 49-32 with 14:15 left.
Takeaways
• It was
Jackie Johnson III's first 20-point game since March 2, 2022 (he scored 30 as a freshman at Duquesne).
• Freshman guard
Ryan Pettis scored his first collegiate points with a pair of free throws in the second half.
• Other freshmen who made their collegiate debuts were center
Jaden Smith and guard
Aleksander Pachucki.
• This is the first year that Fordham will open the season with back-to-back Big East opponents.
By the Numbers
6 – Team-high in rebounds by
Joshua Rivera and
Romad Dean.
20 – Bench points foe the Rams, led by eleven for
Joshua Rivera.
91 – All-time meetings between Fordham and St. John's.
What's Next?
• The Rams will continue their Big East schedule with a game at Seton Hall University on Saturday, November 9, at 12:00 p.m. in the Walsh Gym.
• It will be the 57th meeting between Fordham and Seton Hall on the hardwood, the first since 2001.
• The Pirates lead the all-time series, 29-27, and took the last meeting, 66-57, on December 2001 as part of the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.
• Seton Hall has taken the past two meetings.
• The last Fordham win in the series came on November 29, 1990, as Jean Prioleau hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, his seventh three of the game, to lead the Rams to the win in the Rose Hill Gym.
