Men’s Basketball Dropped by Davidson

Bronx, N.Y. – Today was Arthur Avenue Day in the Rose Hill Gym as various vendors from the street brought samples of their Italian delectables for the fans to enjoy. Unfortunately for Fordham men's basketball followers, the day can best be summed up by the Italian saying, "Rompere le uova nel paniere" which literally means "breaking the eggs in the basket." It's a term that means ruining the plans of others, intruding unexpectedly, perhaps even involuntarily, but still causing a different outcome than the one hoped for. Davidson College did such a thing today, defeating the Rams, 80-69, in an Atlantic 10 contest.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 11-16 overall, 3-11 in the conference, while Davidson improves to 16-11 overall, 6-8 in the conference.
 
The Rams were led by senior guard Jackie Johnson III who scored a game-high 21 points, his second straight 20-point game, while sophomore forward Jahmere Tripp finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points and adding ten rebounds.
 
Fordham trailed by 17 at the break, 41-24, and Davidson scored the first five points of the second half to take a 46-24 lead 45 seconds into the period.
 
The Wildcats led by 20 later in the half, 57-37, following a Bobby Durkin jumper with 11:28 left when the Rams started to chip away at the lead. An 18-11 spurt for the Rams, capped by a Japhet Medor three-point play with 10:06 remaining, cut the Davidson lead to 13, 68-45.
 
The Rams trailed by 14 a little over two minutes later, 66-52, when a Johnson driving layup ignited a 10-3 run as Fordham trimmed the Davidson lead to seven, 69-62, following a Johnson three-point play with 4:33 on the clock.
 
The Rams had two chances over the next minute to get closer but a missed alley-oop and turnover allowed the Wildcats to get the lead back to double digits, 76-64, with two minutes left.
 
Fordham started the game hot, taking an 8-2 lead three minutes into the contest, led by a pair of three-pointers from Johnson.
 
The score was tied at ten with 13:37 left in the first when the Fordham offense went cold as Davidson built an 18-point lead, 34-16, with 4:14 remaining.
 
Takeaways
• Jackie Johnson has scored in double figures in 26 of the 27 games this year.
 
• Over the last five games Johnson is shooting .506 (41-81) from the field.
 
• Joshua Rivera had a streak of nine straight double digit scoring games snapped today (he scored eight), though he is averaging 13.5 ppg over the last ten.
 
• Japhet Medor had a 12-game double digit scoring game streak stopped (he also scored eight today), though he is averaging 16.7 ppg over the past 13 games.
 
• Over the past eleven games Medor has 57 assists with just 18 turnovers.
 
• Abdou Tsimbila is shooting .676 (23-34) over the past ten games.
 
• Jahmere Tripp notched his second double-double of the year.
 
• The game featured the Atlantic 10's leading scorer in Davidson Reed Bailey (19.8 ppg) and the second leading scorer in Fordham's Jackie Johnson III (18.9 ppg) – Bailey scored 17 for the Wildcats today.
 
• Prior to the game a moment of silence was observed to honor former Fordham head coach Hal Wissel, who passed away last week.
 
• Also prior to the game Japhet Medor was presented a game ball for scoring his 1,000^th career collegiate point while Abdou Tsimbila was presented with a ball in honor of his 200^th career collegiate block, both of which occurred in the Dayton Game on February 12.
 
By the Numbers
10 – Rebounds by Jahmere Tripp, tying his career-high set against FDU earlier this year.
 
10 -Steals by the Rams, the sixth double figure steals game for Fordham this year.
 
14 – 20-point games by Jackie Johnson III this year.
 
17 – Career 20-point games for Jackie Johnson III.
 
19.1 – Jackie Johnson III's scoring average in Atlantic 10 games.
  
658 – Career rebounds at Fordham for Abdou Tsimbila, who had five today, 16th on the career rebounding list.
 
1,057 – Career collegiate points for Japhet Medor.
 
1,136 – Career collegiate points for Jackie Johnson III.
 
 
What's Next?
• The Rams continue their 2024-25 Atlantic 10 season by traveling to Fairfax, Va., to face the George Mason University Patriots on Wednesday, February 26, at 7:00 p.m. at EagleBank Arena.
 
• It will be the 17th meeting between Fordham and George Mason on the hardwood.
 
• The Rams lead the all-time series, 10-6, taking three of the last four meetings, including a 61-60 victory last year on February 27 in the Rose Hill Gym as Kyle Rose hit a three-pointer with four seconds remaining, three of his team-high 16 points, to lift the Rams to the win.