Men’s Basketball Falls to Dayton

Bronx, N.Y. – Since tonight was Latin Night in the Rose Hill Gym, the game can best be summed up by a popular Spanish phrase for each team. For Fordham University it would be "Nunca te acostarás sin saber una cosa más" or "you will never go to bed without knowing one more thing." That one more thing is that the Rams can hang with anyone in the Atlantic 10. Unfortunately for Fordham, for the visiting University of Dayton the saying would be "Más vale tarde que nunca" or "better late than never" as the Flyers outscored the Rams 28-16 over the final ten minutes to defeat Fordham, 93-76, on Wednesday night,
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 11-13 overall, 3-8 in the Atlantic 10, while Dayton improves to 17-6 overall, 7-5 in the conference.
 
The Rams were led by senior guard Jackie Johnson III, who scored a game-high 24 points and he added four assists, while junior forward Joshua Rivera and grad student guard Japhet Medor each netted 17 points. Medor's 17 points included his 1,000th career collegiate point on a four-point play in the first half.
 
The game was knotted at 48 at the half and Dayton took a 55-50 lead two minutes into the second half. A Johnson layup and Medor three over the next 1:30 retied the game at 55 before the Flyers scored the next six points to take a 61-55 lead with 14:19 remaining.
 
A Medor three-point play 49 seconds later cut the Fordham deficit to three, 61-58, and the Rams trailed by three again a minute later, 63-60, when Dayton ran off seven straight points to take a 70-60 lead with 8:45 left.
 
An Abdou Tsimbila tip-in 1:10 later made it an eight-point game, 70-62, but Dayton responded with an 8-2 run to take a 14-point lead, 78-64, with 5:21 on the clock. The closest the Rams would get from that point would be ten, 80-70, on a Johnson jumper with 3:36 remaining.
 
Takeaways
• Jackie Johnson recorded his third straight 20-point game and his 12th of the season.
 
• Joshua Rivera has scored in double figures in the last seven games, averaging 14.9 ppg over that stretch.
 
• Japhet Medor has scored in double figures in each of the last ten games, averaging 17.5 ppg over that stretch.
 
• Over the past eight games Medor is shooting .871 (54-62) from the free throw stripe (he was 4-4 tonight).
 
• Abdou Tsimbila is shooting .654 (17-26) over the past seven games.
 
• Fordham was outscored 24-15 from the free throw line.
 
• Former Rams Matt Massimino, Pat Kelly, and Brenton Butler were in attendance along with Hall of Fame Athletic Trainer Vinny Porricelli.
 
By the Numbers
5 – Three-pointers made by Jackie Johnson III, tying his career-high (it was his second straight game with five threes).
 
15 – Career 20-point games by Jackie Johnson III.
 
19.3 – Jackie Johnson III's scoring average in Atlantic 10 games.
 
61.5% - Fordham's first half field goal percentage (16-26).
 
191 - Career blocks at Fordham for Abdou Tsimbila, who had one tonight, fourth on the Rams' career blocks list.
 
200 – Career collegiate blocks for Abdou Tsimbila.
 
635 – Career rebounds at Fordham for Abdou Tsimbila, who had three tonight, moving him into 17th on the career rebounding list.
 
1,015 – Career collegiate points for Japhet Medor.
 
1,100 – Career collegiate points for Jackie Johnson III
 
What's Next?
• The Rams continue their 2024-25 Atlantic 10 season by traveling to Richmond, Va., to face the University of Richmond Spiders in the Robins Center on Saturday, February 15, at 6:00 p.m.
 
• It will be the 34th meeting between Fordham and Richmond on the hardwood.
 
• The Spiders lead the all-time series, which started in 1985, 25-8, and have won the past six match-ups, including an 83-69 win in the Rose Hill Gym on January 27 last year as Jordan King scored 29 points for the Spiders.