Gallery: (12-24-2024) Men's Basketball vs. Saint Louis
Bronx, N.Y. - In the Catalonia region of northern Spain, a special character appears on the last day of the year.
L'home dels nassos, or the man with many noses, has as many noses as there are days left in the year - and he grants wishes, if you can find him. Today a special character appeared in the Rose Hill Gym in the form of a Billiken but unfortunately for Fordham, the Rams couldn't catch him, or more precisely, they couldn't catch Saint Louis redshirt senior Gibson Jimerson who scored a game-high 33 points to lead the Billikens to an 88-63 win over the Rams in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 8-6 overall while Saint Louis improves to 8-6.
Senior guard
Jackie Johnson III led the Rams with 14 points, and he added two steals, while sophomore forward
Jahmere Tripp added 12 points , three assists, and two steals.
The Rams got off to a slow start, trailing by eight, 14-6, 5:49 into the game before four straight points from Johnson, on a pair of free throws and a floater in the lane, made it a 14-10 game with 12:21 left in the half.
Two minutes later Fordham trailed by five, 18-13, following a
Romad Dean basket, when the Billikens went on a 10-2 run to take a 28-15 lead on a Max Pikaar alley-oop with 9:09 remaining.
The Rams trailed by 13 again two minutes later, 30-17, when a
Joshua Rivera put back started a 9-2 Fordham run as the Rams pulled within six, 32-26, on two
Abdou Tsimbila free throws at the 3:27 mark.
But Saint Louis outscored the Rams 10-3 over the final three minutes to take a 42-29 lead at the break and opened the second half with a 10-2 spurt to take a commanding 52-31 three minutes into the period.
Takeaways
•
Jackie Johnson III has scored in double figures in all 14 games this year.
• The Rams are now 5-3 this year when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent.
• The loss snapped a five-game streak in which Fordham scored more than 80 points.
• The loss snaps a two-game winning streak for Fordham against Saint Louis.
• The Rose Hill Gym record for points scored by an opponent is 37 by UMass' Julius Erving in 1970.
• Saint Louis assistant coach Zak Boisvert, a 2010 Fordham grad, served as a student assistant at Fordham from 2007-10.
By the Numbers
3 – Steals by
Japhet Medor, tying his season-high.
5.4 – Assists/game average for
Japhet Medor, who had four today, over the past five games.
14 – Double digit scoring games for
Jackie Johnson III this year.
591 – Career rebounds at Fordham for
Abdou Tsimbila, who had nine today, 21
st on the Fordham career list.
What's Next?
• The Rams continue their 2024-25 Atlantic 10 season by hosting the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in the Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, January 4, at 2:00 p.m.
• It will be the 51st meeting between Fordham and St. Bonaventure on the hardwood.
• The Bonnies lead the all-time series, which started in the 1955-56 season, 32-18 (two St. Bonaventure wins in 2002-03 were later forfeited for use of an ineligible player).
• The Rams have won three of the past four over the Bonnies, including last year's first meeting, 80-74, at St. Bonaventure on January 13 behind 19 points and seven rebounds from
Kyle Rose and 16 points from
Japhet Medor.
• St. Bonaventure won the second meeting last year, 85-67, on February 14 in the Rose Hill Gym as Assa Essamvous scored a game-high 23 points for the Bonnies.
