Men’s Basketball Beats Buzzer, and VCU, in Overtime

 











Box Score (.pdf)

Bronx, N.Y. – Noted author John Feinstein, who has written 35 books in his career, served as the color commentator for the television broadcast tonight but even he would be hard-pressed to pen a tome that would do tonight's Fordham-VCU men's basketball game justice. The home squad led for the first 39:46 until the visitors tied it to force overtime and Fordham's Antwoine Anderson made sure there would only be one overtime as he sank an 17-footer at the buzzer to lead Fordham to a 69-67 Atlantic 10 win in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the win, Fordham improves to 8-11 overall, 2-4 in the Atlantic 10, while VCU falls to 14-5 overall, 4-2 in the conference. The win was Fordham's first over VCU in the seventh meeting between the two schools.
 
Anderson, who appeared before a hometown crowd in Rochester on Saturday, was a game off in playing the hero as he nailed his second buzzer-beating game-winner in as many years (he also sank a game-winning three-pointer in the win over Rhode Island last March). The redshirt junior guard finished with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists with just one turnover in 40-plus minutes.
 

Leading Fordham was graduate student guard Javontae Hawkins, who led all scored with 22 points, shooting 8-for-14 from the field, and he added six rebounds, while sophomore guard Joseph Chartouny netted 15 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out six assists and recorded six steals.
 
Fordham won by beating VCU at its own game: defense. Fordham forced VCU to commit a season-high 22 turnovers, ten of those on Fordham steals, and held the visitors to shooting just 36.4 percent in the first half (8-22).
 
Fordham led by two, 67-65, following an Anderson driving layup with 32 seconds left in overtime and had a chance to increase the lead a few seconds later but Chuba Ohams missed a pair of free throws. VCU rebounded the second miss and worked the ball to Justin Tillman for a layup and he was fouled on the play with 15 seconds on the clock. Tillman missed his free throw which was rebounded by Chartouny who got the ball to Anderson. Anderson drove to the top of the key and launched a shot at the buzzer that was nothing but net as the Fordham bench mobbed Anderson at midcourt.
 
Fordham opened the game hot, taking an 11-2 lead 4:25 into the game, thanks to three-pointers from Hawkins, Chartouny and Christian Sengfelder.
 
After VCU cut the Fordham lead back to five, 21-16, with 7:25 left in the half, the Rams closed out the period with an 11-4 spurt to take a 32-20 lead at the break.
 
After Jordan Burgess hit a three-pointer for VCU to open the second half, a Sengfelder lay in and Hawkins three-pointer gave Fordham its biggest lead of the night, 37-23, 2:13 into the second half.
 
VCU chipped away at the Fordham advantage, eventually getting it down to three, 49-46, with 5:36 left. A Sengfelder basket 15 seconds later put the home squad up five but a Mo Alie-Cox free throw and a Doug Brooks three made it a one-point game, 51-50, with 3:33 on the clock.
 
Hawkins bumped the Fordham lead to three with a layup 16 seconds later but another Brooks three, this one with 1:15 remaining, tied the game for the first time.
 
A Chartouny trifecta with just under a minute left gave Fordham a 56-53 led but a Tillman three-point play knotted the game at 56 with 41 seconds left in regulation.
 
An Anderson lay in with 21 ticks left gave Fordham a short-lived lead as Alie-Cox hit two charity shots with 14 seconds remaining to retie the game at 58.
 
Sengfelder had a chance to win the game in regulation for Fordham but his three-pointer with three seconds left was blocked by Brooks.
 

VCU took its first lead of the night on a Tillman jumper 13 seconds into overtime and took a five-point lead, 63-58, on a Tillman three-point play 36 seconds later.
 
A pair of Hawkins free throws and a Chartouny lay up over the next 1:26 pulled Fordham within one, 63-62, and two more Hawkins free throws with 2:04 left gave Fordham a one-point lead, 64-63.
 
The game would be tied twice over the next 1:50, the final time at 67 on Tillman's layup with 15 seconds remaining.
 
Sengfelder also netted double figures for Fordham, finishing with ten points to go with three rebounds while Ohams pulled down a season-high ten rebounds
 
Fordham returns to action on Saturday, January 21, as they travel to Amherst, Mass., to face the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in an Atlantic 10 game at 12:30 P.M.
 
Notes
The Rams outrebounded VCU, 37-30, and are now 5-1 on the year when outrebounding their opponent.
 
Fordham won for the first time in three games this year decided by three points or less.
 
The Rams recorded a double figure steal total for the 13th time in 19 games this year.
 
Fordham grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and have recorded double-digit offensive rebounds in five straight games (57 total in the five games).
 
The game was the first overtime game of the year for the Rams, who have now won four of their last five overtime games over the past three years.
 
Ohams' previous season-high in rebounding was six, set on Saturday versus St. Bonaventure.
 
Chartouny's six steals was one shy of his career-high.
 
Hawkins' 22 points was one shy of his season-high.