Kingston, R.I. – What do the New York Knicks’ Patrick Ewing, the New York Rangers’ Harry Howell, the New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter and the New York Giants’ Eli Manning have in common? They all are the career games played leaders for their respective teams. Well you can add Fordham’s Kyle Rose to that list as tonight he played in his 127th career game to become the Rams’ all-time leader and he led Fordham to 71-68 Atlantic 10 win over Rhode Island in the Ryan Center.
Rose made the most of his 127th game, leading Fordham with a career-high 24 points, shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-6 from behind the arc, and he grabbed six rebounds, while sophomore guard Will Richardson added 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting and he had five boards. Sophomore forward Joshua Rivera also finished in double digits for Fordham with eleven points, connecting on five of his ten field goal attempts.
With the win, Fordham improves to 9-10 overall, 3-3 in the Atlantic 10, while Rhode Island falls to 9-10 overall, 3-3 in the conference.
The game was tied at 64, the fifth and final tie of the game, with 1:12 remaining but a Rivera driving layup with 40 seconds on the clock gave Fordham the lead for good, 66-64.
Rhode Island hit one of two free throws 12 seconds later to make it a one-point game before Antrell Charlton buried a pair of charity shots with 16 seconds left.
Fordham bumped the lead to four, 70-66 on a pair of Rose free throws with 12 seconds remaining before Rhode Island made it a two-point game with a layup six seconds later.
Elijah Gray was fouled with five seconds on the clock but missed both free throws. Rhode Island grabbed the rebound of the second miss but turned the ball over to Fordham on a bad pass. Richardson then connected on one of two free throws with just over a second left for the final score.
Fordham trailed by three at the break, 34-31, but opened the second half with a 12-5 run to take a 43-39 lead on a Richardson three 3:23 into the half.
Fordham would get the lead to as many as eight, 51-43, before the visiting Rams went cold as Rhode Island ran off eleven straight points to take a 54-51 lead with just over seven minutes remaining.
An Abdou Tsimbila layup broke the Fordham scoring drought and started a 7-0 Fordham spurt as the visiting Rams took a 58-54 lead on a Joshua Rivera dunk with 4:00 left.
Fordham took a 19-14 lead midway through the first on a Rose jumper before Rhode Island used a 16-1 run to take a 30-24 with 3:38 remaining.
Rhode Island bumped the lead to seven, 34-27, with 1:48 left before Fordham scored the final four points of the half, including a Kyle Rose three with 30 seconds remaining to make it a three-point game at the half, 34-31.
Takeaways
• The Rams played their second straight game without their leading scorer senior guard Japhet Medor due to injury.
• It was Kyle Roses’ first 20-point game of the year and the second of his career.
• Kyle Rose is averaging 12.5 ppg and 6.1 rpg over the past eight games.
• Kyle Rose entered the game second in the Atlantic 10 in steals (2.1/game).
• Elijah Gray entered the game averaging 15.4 ppg and 7.4 rpg over the previous five games but was held to four points and one rebound tonight.
• Elijah made his first career start in the game.
• Abdou Tsimbila has blocked at least one shot in 17 of his 18 games this year.
• Tsimbila entered the game with 44 blocks, second in the Atlantic 10, and swatted one tonight.
• Antrell Charlton led Fordham with six assists and did not have a turnover.
• The Rams entered the game second in the Atlantic 10 in offensive rebounding (13.8/game) but had just five tonight.
• Fordham won despite being outscored from the free throw line 18-9
• The Rams are 8-4 in Atlantic 10 road games over the past two years, 3-0 this year.
• Rhode Island assistant coach Duane Woodward served on the Fordham men’s basketball staff in 2013-14.
By the Numbers
5 – Number of different starting lineups used by Fordham this year.
6 – Fordham turnovers in the game, a season-low.
13.5 – Elijah Gray’s scoring average in Atlantic 10 games this year.
18 –Antrell Charlton +/- for the game.
24 – Career-high points by Kyle Rose (previous high was 22 against St. Thomas in 2021).
139 – Career blocks for Abdou Tsimbila, seventh all-time for the Rams.
189 – Career steals for Kyle Rose, seventh on the Fordham career list.
What’s Next?
• The Rams continue the 2024 Atlantic 10 season by traveling to Pittsburgh, Pa., to face the Duquesne University Dukes in the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Wednesday, January 24, at 7:00 p.m.
• It will be the 49th meeting between Fordham and Duquesne on the hardwood.
• The Dukes lead the all-time series, which started in the 1949-50 season, 28-20, but the Rams have taken the past four meetings, including both matchups last year, a 65-58 win in Pittsburgh on January 21 behind 19 points and seven rebounds from Khalid Moore, and a 87-60 victory in the Rose Hill Gym on March 4 as Moore finished with 24 points and nine rebounds and Darius Quisenberry added 21 points..
• The Rams also swept a pair of decisions from Duquesne in 2021-22.
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