City of Basketball Love

Daniel Hughes (@dan1el_sun)

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At First…
Saint Joseph’s got off to a quick start in this Atlantic-10 matchup. Freshman Charlie Brown subbed in with 15:44 remaining in the first and hit three 3-pointers to push the Hawks lead up to double-digits before 10 minutes had passed in the first half. Fordham then went on a 6-0 run, and later cut the lead to one with four minutes to go before halftime. After a made free-throw by Lamarr Kimble, St. Joe’s took a 35-30 lead into halftime.

Brown and the Hawks carried their dominance into the second half. Their highest lead of 15 came with 9:30 remaining after Nick Robinson buried a pair of free throws. The Rams responded quickly with six points of their own, but St. Joe’s continued to lead decisively until the last three minutes of the game. Fordham sophomore Joseph Chartouny hit a three with two and a half minutes left, and then two more Rams layups brought it to a one-possession game. A three by Christian Sengfelder gave Fordham a one-point lead. Kimble answered back with a three of his own to give the Hawks a two-point lead, but Chartouny delivered a quick layup to send the game into overtime.

James Demery opened overtime by missing four straight free throws for the Hawks. Fordham responded with 6-0 run to take the lead. Hawks sophomore Chris Clover hit a three and Demery converted an and-one to cut the lead to two, but Anderson made both of his free throws on the other end to make the lead four. With 11.3 seconds left, Clover made a layup to make the game 75-73, and Fordham finally missed from the line, as Will Tavares clanked both of his attempts to give the Hawks the ball back with five seconds left. Kimble drove down the lane and was fouled. He made both free throws to tie the game and send it into second overtime.

Turning Point...
Kimble continued his strong play in the second overtime period, scoring the first points with a three at the top of the key. With 1:33 remaining, he hit another three to give St. Joe’s a four-point lead. Jessie Bunting later tied the game for the Rams at 81 with 45 seconds left, and Anderson converted a fastbreak layup to give Fordham a two-point lead with 13.3 seconds remaining. Kimble went to the line yet again with seven seconds left and knocked down two more free throws, but Anderson came charging down and hit a three at the buzzer to win the game for Fordham.

Standout Stars…
In the first game of his career where he wasn’t in the starting lineup, Charlie Brown came off the bench to score a career high 22 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the floor. Brown hit three 3-pointers in the middle of a 13-2 run in the first half that got the Hawks lead up to 10. He finished with a career high six treys on 6-for-11 shooting behind the arc.

Fordham’s Antwoine Anderson shot 6-for-17 from the floor to lead the Rams with 20 points. He also hit the game-winning three at the end of second overtime.The 6-foot-1 redshirt junior came into the matchup averaging 11.3 points per game.

Noteworthy Numbers…
11: The number of turnovers committed by St. Joe’s in the first half, the most all season. The Hawks took better care of the ball after the break, as it took nearly eight minutes of the second half for them to commit a turnover. They finished the game with 16

60.0%: St. Joe’s free-throw percentage. The Hawks missed five free-throw attempts in overtime on their way to shooting 24-of-40 (.600) from the stripe in the loss.

1: This was the first start of Brendan Casper’s career. The senior forward went scoreless but added two rebounds and two assists. Casper began his career as a walk-on but was given a scholarship his sophomore year and was voted one of the team’s three captains last spring.

Up Next…
Saint Joseph’s (10-12, 3-7 Atlantic-10) @ Dayton (17-5, 8-2 Atlantic-10)
Fordham (10-14, 4-6 Atlantic-10) vs. La Salle (12-8, 6-3 Atlantic-10)