Davidson, N.C. – Charles "Lefty" Driesell, former head coach of Davidson who passed away at the age of 92 last weekend, has the Lefty Driesell Award named in his honor. It goes to the best defensive player in NCAA Division I. For the first few minutes of tonight's game it seemed as if the entire Davidson team would qualify for the award as the Wildcats shutout Fordham over the first four-plus minutes of the game. Davidson maintained the defensive pressure in the second half for a 68-53 Atlantic 10 win over the Rams in Belke Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 10-16 overall, 4-9 in the Atlantic 10, while Davidson improves to 15-11, 5-8 in the conference.
The Rams were led by senior guard
Will Richardson and sophomore forward
Elijah Gray, who each netted nine points, while senior forward
Abdou Tsimbila and sophomore forward
Joshua Rivera each added seven.
Fordham led by one at the half, 24-23, and scored the first six points of the second half on three-pointers from
Will Richardson and
Kyle Rose and led by seven, 32-25, following a Gray basket 3:13 into the half.
The Cats clawed their way back, eventually tying the game at 32 before a
Zach Riley jumper that just beat the shot clock regained the lead for Fordham with 14:41 remaining.
A Josh Rivera three a minute later gave the Rams a 37-32 lead before Davidson used an 11-2 run to take a 43-39 midway through the half.
A Rose three with 8:05 left cut the Fordham deficit to four, 49-45, but the Wildcats reeled off ten straight points to take a commanding 59-45 lead with 5:35 left.
Free throws from Richardson and Rivera over the next three minutes trimmed the Davidson advantage to ten, 59-49, but that was as close as the Rams would get.
Davidson jumped out to a 9-0 lead four minutes into the game before a
Joshua Rivera layup put the Rams on the board with 15:14 left in the half.
The Wildcats led by eleven, 18-7, midway through the first when the Rams defense dug in and outscored the home team 17-5 the rest of the way as Fordham took a 24-23 lead at the break. Gray led the Rams' attack with seven first half points while
Romad Dean added five.
Takeaways
•
Abdou Tsimbila, who had one block tonight, has blocked at least one shot in 23 of his 25 games this year.
• It was a Homecoming for
Elijah Gray, who hails from nearby Charlotte.
• The Rams were outscored from free throw line, 18-11.
• The Fordham bench outscored the Davidson bench, 24-16.
• It was the first game of the season in which at least one Ram did not score in double figures.
• The Rams missed their first six three-point attempts before hitting two of the next five and two of the first four long distance shots in the second half.
• The Wildcats shot 12 free throws in the first half, all 12 coming from Reed Bailey.
• A moment of silence was observed before the game for Lefty Driesell.
By the Numbers
7 - Rebounds by
Romad Dean, a career-high (previous high was six).
12 – Offensive rebounds for the Rams.
89 – Career starts for
Kyle Rose.
128 – Consecutive games played by
Kyle Rose
134 – Career games played for
Kyle Rose, a Fordham record.
151 – Career blocks for
Abdou Tsimbila, sixth all-time for the Rams.
What's Next?
• The Rams continue the 2024 Atlantic 10 season by hosting the Duquesne University Dukes in the historic Rose Hill Gym on Friday, February 23, at 8:30 p.m.
• It will be the 50th meeting between Fordham and Duquesne on the hardwood.
• The Dukes lead the all-time series, which started in the 1949-50 season, 29-20, but the Rams have taken four of the last meetings, including both matchups last year, a 65-58 win in Pittsburgh on January 21 behind 19 points and seven rebounds from
Khalid Moore, and an 87-60 victory in the Rose Hill Gym on March 4 as Moore finished with 24 points and nine rebounds and
Darius Quisenberry added 21 points.
• Duquesne won this year's first meeting, 68-59, on January 27 in Pittsburgh behind 15 points from Jake DiMichele while
Elijah Gray led all scorers with 19 points for Fordham.
• The Rams swept a pair of decisions from Duquesne in 2021-22.
