SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – With his team trailing by one in the waning seconds of the game,
Jackie Johnson III sank a 17-foot running floater as the buzzer sounded, forever etching his name into Fordham lore and lifting the Rams to a 57-56 win over Seton Hall at Walsh Gymnasium.
With the win, Fordham knocked off a high-major opponent on the road for the first time since winning at Virginia, 62-60, on Dec. 7, 2005. The victory marked the Rams' first road win over a BIG EAST foe since taking down No. 24 St. John's, 68-67, on Dec. 9, 2000. Fordham had last defeated a team from a high-major league, Rutgers, on Dec. 8, 2018, at the Rose Hill Gym.
"It's great for our fans, but especially for the players and the staff in the locker room that have just been grinding so hard since June 1," said Head Coach
Keith Urgo "To come in here and just continue the process of learning how to trust one another and continuing to get better and building a connection. We feel like we have a great group of guys and if we stay connected, we have a chance to be the best team that we can be by the end of the year and compete with anybody. It's huge for our team and our program to validate what we've been doing despite getting knocked down on Monday night and then it's exciting because we open at home on Tuesday night, so hopefully the fan base will rally behind us and pack that gym on Tuesday night for Binghamton."
Johnson led the way for the Rams, scoring 18 points to go along with four assists in 31 minutes of action. The senior scored 12 of those points in the second half, shooting 5-of-9 from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
Will Richardson also finished in double figures, netting 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting to go along with four rebounds, four assists, no turnovers and two steals. Richardson kept the Rams in the game late, sinking three crucial free throws with 16 seconds to go to bring Fordham within one.
Abdou Tsimbila was a force inside, finishing with six points, 11 rebounds and five blocks in 28 minutes of action.
Japhet Medor and
Joshua Rivera chipped in seven points apiece for the Rams (1-1), who turned 15 Seton Hall turnovers into 19 points. The Pirates (1-1), on the other hand, managed just eight points off 14 Fordham miscues.
The loss at Walsh Gymnasium snapped a 34-game regular season winning streak against non-conference opponents for Seton Hall at its' on-campus home. The Pirates' last regular season loss against a non-league foe at Walsh Gym came on Dec. 16, 1989, against Fordham.
Seton Hall jumped out to an early lead, moving ahead by as many as seven, 14-7, at the 12:40 mark of the first half. Fordham, however, battled back, trimming the deficit to one on a pair of occasions before Seton Hall took a 32-28 lead into the locker room.
The Pirates came out of the gate firing in the second half, taking their largest lead of the game, 36-28, on a Godswill Erheriene bucket just over a minute into the period. Urgo called timeout and settled the Rams before Johnson hit treys on consecutive possessions, trimming the deficit to two and pulling Fordham right back into the contest.
A few minutes later, Johnson knotted the game at 38 with a driving layup, erasing Seton Hall's lead for the first time since the 15:09 mark of the first half.
From there, it was a back-and-forth affair the rest of the way with neither team leading by more than four.
Seton Hall led by that four-point margin with 22 seconds to play following a 1-for-2 trip to the line for Chaunce Jenkins and it looked like the Pirates might end up pulling one out at home. On the ensuing possession, Richardson went up for a left-wing triple and was fouled. The junior from nearby Teaneck, N.J., calmly stepped to the stripe and drained all three chances, cutting the deficit to one.
With 16 seconds left and possession in the hands of Seton Hall, Fordham attempted to force a turnover before fouling, but Seton Hall broke the press. Luckily for the Rams, Dylan Addae-Wusu could not handle a rocketed pass on the baseline, giving the ball back to Fordham with 11 seconds to play.
After advancing the ball into the front court, Fordham called timeout to set up a sideline out-of-bounds play with seven seconds remaining. Johnson got the ball between the circles and drove to his left, putting up a left-handed floater from 17 feet as the buzzer sounded. It grazed back rim and fell, giving Fordham the game and a signature win entering the season's second week.
Fordham will return to action on Tuesday night when it hosts Binghamton for its home opener. Tip-off at the Rose Hill Gym is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+. To buy your tickets,
click here.
