Fordham Gets Needed Win With Their Threes…

By William Coppola

At Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym Saturday afternoon the Rams blew away the University of Massachusetts 82 -69 for a big win in the A10 conference. With the score tied at 40 and 14:26 on the clock in the second half, Fordham took the lead on a soft jumper by 6’11” Prokop Slanina and never looked back. They would end the day by shooting 61.5% from the field.

That was the big story of some serious missile launching with both Joseph Chartouny and Ivan Raut who looked like they could have sunk buckets from Arthur Avenue.

The Rams as a team shot 57% from the three point line with a stunned UMass team looking for a fallout shelter to protect themselves from this bomb attack by what now looks like a rejuvenated Fordham five. Chartouny also totaled 13 assists and 21 points.

He said, “I have not had a good year shooting threes, so this felt really good. It is not about getting threes for me, it is about what is good for our team.” About all the assists he said, “Was just looking to get the ball to one of his teammates who was open and they did all the rest. It felt good to get a win.

Fordham snapped a six game losing streak and won their fourth straight over UMASS dating back to last season in taking two games from the Minutemen this season in the A-10 Conference.

The victory could be a big boost to a team that has not had a good season to date. It was a well played game by the Rams and a much needed win in the Atlantic 10 conference. With only five of the 14 teams having a winning record, everyone still has a chance to make the playoffs.

Head coach Jeff Neubauer said the win was more than a confidence builder for his players. He liked the way they moved the ball around and worked as a whole team.

“We stayed with our plan and executed as one body.”

The loss was devastating for UMass who have now lost four in a row and now have a conference record of 3-6. Fordham is now 2-7 and look like they have found their game. Driving into a man to man defense and then kicking out for someone to clear for a three- pointer worked to perfection. Their ferocious defense gave them the ball back with five blocked shots, five steals and nine take-aways. UMass shot 40.6% from the floor and only 33.3% from the three-point line that was due to the tremendous effort by the Fordham defense.

Next up for the Rams is a trip to Saint Louis where they play the 4-5 Billikens next Saturday evening.

William Coppola is a contributing writer for the Bronx Chronicle.

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