BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Fordham men's basketball team saw its season come to an end on Wednesday in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship, falling to fifth-seeded VCU, 69-62, at Barclays Center.
Despite failing to reach a third consecutive A-10 quarterfinal, the Rams held VCU without a field goal for the final 8:41 of the contest. During that stretch, however, the Rams from Richmond went 15-of-18 from the charity stripe.
Fordham (13-20) made its last field goal with 6:26 to go, moving ahead by one, 57-56, on a Jahmere Tripp layup. Fordham went 6-for-8 at the stripe the rest of the way.
On the game, VCU (20-12) outscored Fordham 27-13 at the charity stripe and took 21 more free throw attempts (39 to 18).
In his record 141st game as a Ram, Kyle Rose capped his college career with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including a 4-for-6 showing from deep.
Abdou Tsimbila also finished in double figures, tallying 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting and three boards in 16 minutes of action.
Neither team led by more than seven points at any point in the game.
Trailing by that seven-point margin with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half, Fordham closed the period on a 14-6 run to take a one-point lead, 38-37, at the intermission. Fordham shot 50.0% (13-26) and 54.5% from deep (6-11) in the game's first 20 minutes.
Down 40-38 following a Zeb Jackson 3-pointer to open the latter stanza, Fordham unleashed a 7-0 tear to take its largest lead of the game, 45-40, with 15 minutes to play.
After a Will Richardson layup put the Rams up four, 54-50, with 9:35 to play, VCU rattled off a 7-0 run to move ahead by three with just under seven minutes remaining. The Bronx Rams responded with four straight to take their last lead with five minutes to go. Fordham tied the game at 59 and 61, but was unable to recapture the advantage. VCU scored the final six points of the contest at the free throw line in the last 26 seconds.
