Men’s Basketball Takes Down FDU, 84-75

BRONX – Fordham students were rewarded with cookies tonight as part of National Cookie Day. If Fordham's Jahmere Tripp were a cookie he'd probably be a red velvet and cream cheese cookie mixed with crushed chocolate sandwich cookies and vanilla-flavored chips. In other words, a cookie with a little bit of everything. Tonight the sophomore guard showed he can do a little bit of everything, notching his first career double-double with 20 points and ten rebounds to lead the Rams to an 84-75 win over FDU in the historic Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham evens its record at 5-5 on the year while FDU falls to 3-7.
 
Tripp was 7-for-10 from the field and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe and he added an assist. Also scoring 20 points for Fordham was senior guard Jackie Johnson III, who scored a team-high 21 points, to go with five assists, while junior forward Romad Dean was a rebound shy of his first career-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
 
The Fordham offense got off to a slow start, trailing the Knights by four, 18-14, midway through the first half when a Zach Riley steal and layup ignited a 16-4 Ram run as Fordham took a 30-22 lead on a pair of Dean free throws with 5:35 left in the period.
 
The Rams built the lead to ten at the break, 44-34, thanks to a Tripp dunk that just beat the halftime buzzer.
 
Fordham opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to take a 15-point lead, 51-36, following a pair of Tripp free throws three minutes into the half.
 
But FDU managed to shave the Fordham lead down to five, 53-48, with 14:17 left and, later in the half, made it a three-point game, 60-57, on a Terrence Brown layup off a Fordham turnover with 9:33 remaining.
 
The Ram offense responded with eleven straight points to increase the lead to 14, 71-57, on a Japhet Medor put back with 6:46 on the clock.
 
Fordham got the lead to as many as 17, 82-65, on a Dean layup with 1:31 left before the Knights outscored the Rams 10-2 the rest of the way for the 84-75 final.
 
Takeaways
• The game was the second time this year Fordham had two 20-point scorers in a regulation game (Johnson and Medor each scored 20 at Manhattan).

• It was the first time that two Rams scored 20 points in a regulation win since 2023 when Darius Quisenberry scored 22 points and Khalid Moore netted 20 in a win over La Salle in the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals (the Rams had three 20-point scorers in a triple overtime win at George Washington last year – Japhet Medor (24), Elijah Gray (22) and Antrell Charlton (22)).
 
• Quisenberry and Moore teamed up to score 20-points in six games in 2022-23.
 
• Jackie Johnson III recorded his fourth 20-point game of the year and the seventh of his career.
 
• Fordham scored 14 second chance points compared to two by FDU.
 
• The Rams have taken all five meetings with the Knights.
 
• The 84 points scored by Fordham was one shy of the Rams' highest scoring game against FDU (the Rams won 85-62 in 2015).
 
• FDU entered the game averaging 9.6 three-pointers/game but were held to seven tonight on 23 attempts.
 
By the Numbers
5 – Assists by Jackie Johnson III, a career-high (previous high was four).
 
9 – Rebounds by Romad Dean, tying his season-high.
 
10 – Rebounds by Jahmere Tripp, a career-high (previous was six).
 
15 – Offensive rebounds by Fordham, the third straight game and seventh overall game that the Rams have double digits in offensive rebounds.
 
50 – Rebounds by the Rams, a season-high.
 
172 – Career blocks for Abdou Tsimbila, who recorded three tonight, fourth on the Fordham career list.
 
694 – All-time wins in the historic Rose Hill Gym for the Rams.
 
1.596 – All-time wins for Fordham.
 
What's Next?
• The Rams continue the 2024-25 season by hosting the University of Maine Black Bears in the historic Rose Hill Gym on Sunday, December 8, at 12:00 p.m.
 
• It will be the sixth meeting between the Rams and the Black Bears.
 
• Fordham leads the all-time series, 3-2, and took the most recent meeting, 72-67, in the Rose Hill Gym on November 30, 2022 as Darius Quisenberry scored 18 points and Khalid Moore added 16 points and ten rebounds.
 
• The game will be the third of four games against America East opponents this year (Binghamton, New Hampshire, and Bryant).
 
• The Rams are 18-6 against schools currently in the America East Conference.