The Fordham Rams outscored the Maine Black Bears by 13 points over the final 8:14 on Wednesday night, and picked up a hard fought 72-67 men’s basketball win at Rose Hill Gym in Bronx, New York.
Maine, who was playing down one key starter in Tristians Feierbergs, led by as many as eight points in both the first half and second half. The Black Bears got off to a great start with an early 7-2 lead, before the Rams came alive and went ahead for the first time on the night on a dunk by Abdou Tsimbila at 12-11. The guests regained their advantage, and a three-pointer by Milos Nenadic made it 32-24. Maine would lead 34-28 at the halftime break.
Maine had another eight point lead early in the second half, but Fordham pushed back and tied it with a 10-2 run finished off with a layup by Khalid Moore at 42-42. In what was a game of runs, the Black Bears scored 12 of the next 16 points finished off with a layup and jumper by Peter Filipovity for a 54-46 advantage with 8:14 left to play. That is when the Rams would turn it on to finish the game. After Antrell Charlton gave the hosts the lead at 56-55 with a jumper in the paint, Filipovity responded for the guests on the other end with a layup for what turned out to be their final lead. Just 11 seconds later, Zach Riley put Fordham up for good with a three-pointer 59-57. A three-pointer by Ata Turgut pulled Maine within 64-63 with 1:57 remaining, but on the other end after a three-point miss by Fordham Tsimbila would grab an offensive rebound and got it to Darius Quisenberry who returned it to Tsimbila for an alley-oop dunk. Quisenberry helped clinch the win going 4-4 from the line in the final 21 seconds.
Gedi Juozapaitis led Maine in the loss with 19 points and four rebounds. Filipovity had 12 points and six rebounds, while Nenadic also finished in double figures with 10 points. Quisenberry had 18 points to lead Fordham. Tsimbila and Moore both had double doubles. Moore had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Tsimbila had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Riley also had a career-high 11 points, as the Rams out of the Atlantic 10 improve to 7-1 on the season with all seven wins at home (7-0). The Black Bears after two straight defeats fall to 4-3 and will travel to London, England to play Marist College on Sunday with tipoff scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
