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BRONX, N.Y. (Feb. 21, 2025) – The Fordham men's basketball team will return to action on Wednesday night, heading to George Mason for its penultimate regular season road tilt against the Patriots.
 
Tip-off from EagleBank Arena is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+ with Bill Rohland and Chris Fleming on the call.  Nick Guzman and Chris Carrino will handle the broadcasting duties on 90.7 FM WFUV and the WFUV Sports YouTube page.
 
Fordham (11-16, 3-11) heads to league-leading George Mason on the heels of an 80-69 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Hill Gym against Davidson.  After trailing by as many as 22 early in the second half, the Rams rattled off a 15-5 run to make it a seven-point game with four and half minutes remaining before the Wildcats answered back.
 
Jackie Johnson led the Rams once again, tallying 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including a 3-of-8 showing from deep.  It marked the senior's 14^th 20-point effort of the season, the highest such total by a Fordham player since Branden Frazier reached the mark 17 times in 2013-14.  Johnson, whose 509 points are the highest-ever by a Fordham player through his first 27 games with the program, ranks second in the Atlantic 10 with 18.9 points per outing.   The last Fordham player to average 18.9 points per game or more over the course of the season was Joe Paterno, the Rams' fourth leading scorer all-time, who posted 20.0 points per contest in 1988-89.  Johnson, a UNLV transfer who started his career at Duquesne, has scored 20 or more in five of his past six games and has reached double figures in all but one contest this season.
 
Japhet Medor finished with eight points, six assists and four steals against the Wildcats on Saturday, snapping a streak of 12 straight games in double figures.  In A-10 action, Medor ranks 10^th in the league averaging 15.6 points per game.  He also sits third in assists per game (4.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0) in conference play. 
 
Jahmere Tripp enjoyed a breakout game against Davidson, scoring 17 points and matching a career-high 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.  Tripp went 7-of-11 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep while also dishing out three assists.  It marked his second-highest point total as a Ram, trailing only his 20-point, 10-rebound effort against FDU on Dec. 4.
 
As of Tuesday morning, George Mason (21-6, 12-2) is tied with VCU atop the A-10 standings.  The Patriots fell to the Rams, 70-54, in Richmond on Saturday afternoon, snapping what had been one of the nation's longest winning streaks at 11 games.  Two of George Mason's four non-conference losses came on the road against teams currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll: No. 2 Duke on Dec. 17 and No. 21 Marquette on Nov. 8.
 
Senior guard Darius Maddox is the Patriots' leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game.  Jalen Haynes, a 6-foot-8, 265-pound senior forward, has posted 12.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest with four double-doubles.
 
The Patriots boast the Atlantic 10's top scoring defense, allowing just 62.4 points per game.  As of Tuesday morning, George Mason owns the nation's 16^th best defensive efficiency rating according to KenPom, allowing 0.948 points per possession.
 
Fordham and George Mason will meet for the 17^th time in the history of the two programs, a series that favors Fordham, 10-6.  All but one of those contests have come since George Mason joined the league in 2013-14.  The Rams won the first six games between the two teams before the Patriots responded by winning five of six from 2016-17 until 2020-21.  Since 2021-22, Fordham has won three of four with the only loss coming on the road in overtime on March 1, 2023.