Men’s Basketball Topples St. John’s 73-57

By ANTHONY PUCIK 

Final scores: 56-50, 58-47, 104-58, and 74-53. The St. John’s Red Storm own the four winning scores, while Fordham Men’s Basketball own the losing ones. These four games, all played in Madison Square Garden in the last four years, have been tough for the Rams. This year, however, things were different. Under head coach Jeff Neubauer, and in the sold out, friendly confines of the Rose Hill Gym, the Rams, favored by six and a half points, were able to pick snap their losing streak against the Red Storm with a 73-57 victory.

“Our team did a very good job competing tonight,” Neubauer said. “Overall, proud of the effort and I think our defense is making strides. We’re getting better.”

Senior center Ryan Rhoomes put in a layup for the Rams a little over a minute and a half into the game, and Fordham never looked back. Fordham extended its lead to 6-2 by the under 16 media timeout behind a solid defensive effort. The Rams and Red Storm each scored six points over the next four minutes of play to keep the lead at four points, and at one point St. John’s cut the lead down to one at 16-15. But Fordham finally broke out with a 12-2 run, fueled by three three-pointers from senior guard Mandell Thomas, which gave them a 28-17 lead with under six minutes to play in the first half. Impressive defense and scoring runs continued to be the story for the Rams, as they headed into halftime with a 41-25 lead.

“A lot of nights it’s going to be tough,” St. John’s head coach Chris Mullin said. “These guys are young, inexperienced and going through a lot of these first time experiences.”

Fordham refused to take its foot off the gas, scoring the first two points of the second half to increase its lead to 18. St. John’s dropped the lead to 15 with just over 16 minutes to play in regulation, but a free throw from Thomas and a layup from Rhoomes brought the score back to 50-32 with 14:19 to play in the second half. Rhoomes added another three points in the next two minutes to make it 53-34 Rams, but St. John’s scored seven straight points to cut the deficit down to 12. The Rams regained control quickly, with a monster dunk from Thomas that sent the Rose Hill Gym into a frenzy to make it 55-41, and Fordham continued on from there. The lead ballooned to 21 points at 65-44 with 6:24 remaining after another Rhoomes layup and the Red Strom were only able to cut the deficit to as little as 16 before falling to the Rams 73-57.

Rhoomes had a big night for the Rams, scoring a career high 26 points and added in 12 rebounds on his way to a double double. “Ryan’s really made a lot of progress over the last eight months,” Neubauer said. “His field goal percentage is well over 70 percent. He’s taking the right shots, he’s getting to his spot on the floor and he’s scoring the ball.”

Teammates Thomas and Severe were the other two Rams in double figures, contributing 14 points each. The Red Storm’s top scorer was Felix Balamou with 14, while Christian Jones added 11. The Rams held St. John’s to a 38.10 percent field goal percentage on the night, while also scoring 18 points of Red Storm turnovers.

The win kept the Rams perfect at home this season, and improved their record to 5-1, something that has not been the norm for Rhoomes in his time at Fordham. “It’s been fun,” Rhoomes said of the team’s start. “It finally feels good to be a Ram . . . We’re more of a team, we have a system, play defense, it just feels like a real good basketball team.”

While this St. John’s team is not as strong this year as year’s previous, this is still a key win for the Rams. The Red Storm were arguably Fordham’s hardest opponent yet this season, and were able to handle them convincingly. The team seems to have bought into the system coach Neubauer has introduced, and it has paid dividends for them early on this season. While the Atlantic-10 poses fiercer competition than what the Rams have faced already this season, wins over rivals like Manhattan College and St. John’s will certainly give this team, and Ram fans, the confidence that if Fordham plays its style effectively they will be a tough team to beat this season.

The Rams look to keep their winning streak at home going on Saturday, Dec. 5 when they take on Central Connecticut State at 4 p.m., after the women play Delaware St. as part of a doubleheader.