Men’s Basketball Outscored at George Mason, 74-64

Fairfax, Va. - Everyone has heard of the slogan "Virginia is for lovers." What's not very well known is that when they started to come up with the catchphrase there were different versions such as "Virginia is for History Lovers", "Virginia is for Beach Lovers", and "Virginia is for Mountain Lovers". Perhaps they should have added "Virginia is for Basketball Lovers" and if you love basketball you must love to play defense. Unfortunately for Fordham fans tonight George Mason played defense just a bit better than the Rams as the Patriots upended Fordham, 74-64, in an Atlantic 10 game at EagleBank Arena.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 11-17 overall, 3-12 in the Atlantic 10, while George Mason improves to 22-6 overall, 13-2 in the conference.
 
The Rams were led by grad student guard Japhet Medor who scored a team-high 22 points, including five three-pointers, and he dished out four assists, while senior guard Jackie Johnson III added 13 points and grad student forward Abdou Tsimbila finished with eight points and ten rebounds.
 
A pair of Johnson free throws with 5:41 remaining knotted the game at 55 but the Fordham offense went cold as the Patriots used a 13-2 run to take a 68-57 lead with two minutes remaining and the closest the Rams would get from there was eight, 69-61, on two Joshua Rivera free throws with just over a minute left.
 
The Patriots led by eight at the half, 32-24, but Fordham came out determined in the second half, scoring the first eight points while playing a strong defense as the Rams tied the game at 32 on a Matt Zona free throw 3:12 into the half.
 
George Mason led by five later in the half, 42-37, but a Zona layup and a pair of Jahmere Tripp free throws made it a one-point game, 42-41, with 11:55 remaining.
 
Later in the half a Johnson layup and a Zona charity shot made it a one-point game, 52-51, and four minutes later Johnson tied it at 55.
 
The Rams jumped out to a 7-2 lead over the first 2:37, the first five coming on a Jackie Johnson layup and three-pointer.
 
George Mason scored seven of the next nine points to tie the game at nine on a Darius Maddox floater with 14:48 left in the half.
 
The game was knotted at 12 2:30 later when the Patriots scored five straight before a Medor three cut the home team's lead to two, 17-15 with 9:04 remaining.
 
Another Medor three four minutes later pulled the Rams within three, 23-20, but George Mason closed out the half on a 9-4 run to take a 32-24 lead at the break.
 
Takeaways
• Jackie Johnson has scored in double figures in 27 of the 28 games this year.
 
• Japhet Medor had a 12-game double digit scoring game streak stopped against Davidson but has now scored in double figures in 13 of the last 14 games, averaging 17.0 ppg over that stretch.
 
• Over the past 12 games Medor has 61 assists with just 20 turnovers.
 
• Abdou Tsimbila is shooting .667 (26-39) over the past ten games.
 
• Abdou Tsimbila notched his third double figure rebounding game of the year and the 12th of his career.
 
• The Rams held the Patriots to just four made baskets over the first 14 minutes of the second half.
 
• George Mason entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense (62.4) and in field goal defense (.375)
 
• The Patriots are 16-1 at home this season.
 
By the Numbers
6 – 20-point games by Japhet Medor this year.
 
16 – Career 20-point games for Japhet Medor.
 
18.7 – Jackie Johnson III's scoring average in Atlantic 10 games.
 
73 - Three-pointers made by Jackie Johnson III this year, tied for eighth on the Fordham single season list.
 
198 - Career blocks at Fordham for Abdou Tsimbila, who had three tonight, fourth on the Rams' career blocks list.
 
207– Career collegiate blocks for Abdou Tsimbila.
  
668 – Career rebounds at Fordham for Abdou Tsimbila, who had ten tonight, 16th on the career rebounding list.
 
1,079 – Career collegiate points for Japhet Medor.
 
1,149 – Career collegiate points for Jackie Johnson III.
 
What's Next?
• The Rams continue their 2024-25 Atlantic 10 season by hosting the Saint Joseph's University Hawks in the historic Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, March 1, at 12:00 p.m. on the USA Network.
 
• It will be the 61st meeting between Fordham and Saint Joseph's on the hardwood.
 
• The Hawks lead the all-time series, which started in the 1919-20 season, 41-19, and have won nine of the past eleven over the Rams.
 
• Saint Joseph's won last year's matchup, 82-69, in Philadelphia on March 2 as Kacper Klaczek scored a team-high 16 points and Cam Brown added 15 for the Hawks while Fordham's Kyle Rose led all scorers with 31 points.
 
• Fordham took the 2022-23 meeting, 66-54, in the Rose Hill Gym on Janu­ary 7 as Darius Quisenberry netted 15 points for the Rams while Antrell Charlton added eleven.
 
Note: Fordham strength and conditioning coach Stephen Georgio assisted in the production of the lede of this story.