By Tyler Freire
Graduate student guard Javontae Hawkins (along with senior Matt Massimino) were honored before Saturday’s game. (Julia Comerford/The Fordham Ram)
This week for Fordham Men’s Basketball saw a great win on the road in Pittsburgh against Duquesne. The win was followed by a tough loss at home against Richmond.
The matchup against Duquesne presented multiple obstacles for Fordham. The Rams were without sophomore guard, Joseph Chartouny, for the second straight game due to a family emergency. In addition, red-shirt junior guard Antwonie Anderson left the game in the first half due to an injury (he would return) and two other players fouled out. Despite these obstacles, the Rams did not falter. The team defeated Duquesne 70-52 at the Palumbo Center.
With the win, the Rams have won 15 Atlantic 10 games in the past two years; one more than the Rams won in the previous seven years combined. Unlike the first meeting between the two teams, Fordham controlled the boards, out-rebounding Duquesne 33-21, with 11 of the Ram rebounds coming off the offensive glass.
Fordham led by six at the break, 32-26, and were up six again, 35-29, early in the second half. A three from junior forward Christian Sengfelder started a 10-2 run for Fordham as they took a 45-31 lead.
Duquesne managed to get the Fordham lead down to 10 five times over the next nine minutes, the final time being 56-46 with 6:30 left. But the Rams pulled away, outscoring Duquesne 12-2 over the next five minutes, taking a commanding 68-48 lead, and the Rams would close this one out 70-52.
Graduate student guard Javontae Hawkins and Sengfelder lead the scoring for the Rams. Hawkins tallied a game-high 20 points, shooting 7-for-14 from the field adding five rebounds, giving him a team leading 22nd double-digit scoring game of the season and third 20-point game of the season. Sengfelder finished with 19 points, making five three-pointers, and grabbing seven rebounds.
Fordham freshman guard Cavit Havsa finished with a season-high ten points, shooting 4-for-5 from the field, adding three assists and two steals. Junior guard Will Tavares and Anderson each netted seven, with Anderson adding six dimes.
The Rams held Duquesne’s leading scorer, Mike Lewis II, without a field goal in the first half and to just two in the second half. Fordham also recorded 19 assists on 24 made baskets.
The Rams now had to switch gears and start game planning for a team they had not beaten in ten years: the Richmond Spiders.
Prior to the game against Richmond, seniors Matt Massimino and Javontae Hawkins, who were making one of their final appearances in the Rose Hill Gym, were honored in a pregame ceremony.
But the celebration was spoiled, as the Rams fell to the Spiders 70-48. The Spiders have proven to be the Achilles heel for Fordham, as this was its 14th straight loss against the Spiders.
Fordham’s three game winning streak coming into the Richmond game was a result of stellar defense and limiting turnovers. Neither of those aspects fared well for Fordham in their matchup against Richmond.
In the three victories, the Rams held their opponents to shooting just 35.5 percent from the field (49-138) and 16.3 percent from long range (8-49), while Richmond shot 50 percent from the field (27-54) and hit nine three-pointers. The Rams also turned the ball over 18 times, which the Spiders converted into 18 points.
The Rams started out the game well, jumping out to a 9-5 lead just three minutes into the contest. But when the Rams took a 11-10 lead after a Javontae Hawkins dunk with 13:25 left in the first half, the Spiders used an 8-2 spurt to take a 18-13 lead just three minutes later.
Fordham got the lead to just four, 20-16, on a pair of free throws with 7:46 left in the half from Chartouny, but the following two possessions for Richmond ended in back-to-back threes, extending their lead to 13, 29-16. The Spiders took that momentum and extended their lead all the way to 20 at the break, 40-20.
As the second half got underway, Fordham used an 8-2 run to trim a 19-point Richmond advantage to 13, 55-42, following an Anderson three-point play. But that was as close as the Rams got, as the Spiders closed out Fordham 70-48.
The Rams fell despite a team-high 16 points from Anderson, who shot 6-10 from the field including 3-5 from long range while adding three steals and two assists. This was the seventh game of the year in which Fordham committed more turnovers than their opponent.
Richmond now leads the all-time series 19-7 with 14 straight wins.
“Richmond is a team we’ve struggled with, and haven’t beat in 10 years…the problem we have is guarding them,” said head coach Jeff Neubauer. They put five skilled guys, guys who can really shot the ball and they gave us fits all game.”
With the win against Duquesne and the loss against Richmond, Fordham falls to 13-16 overall, with a 7-9 record in the Atlantic 10.
The Rams return to action Wednesday, March 1st, as they host George Washington University at the Rose Hill Gymnasium.
