In their Saturday afternoon matchup against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, it was clear early on that Fordham had to establish a strong inside presence. After a strong driving layup from Chris Ledlum, a second chance basket from Sean Conway, and a hook shot from Joel Soriano, the Johnnies were up 8-0 just 3 minutes after tip. On an inside feed from Antrell Charlton, Fordham’s Joshua Rivera would answer the call to action, fighting through contact for a trip to the line.
Despite previous free throw struggles this season, Rivera would hit both shots to give Fordham their first 2 points of the game. Rivera finished the game 9-10 from the charity stripe, a massive improvement from earlier games this season that Coach Keith Urgo attributed to the sophomore forward’s work ethic.
“Everybody who’s been following us knows he’s been struggling [from the line], but he’s been working so hard on that all day, every day,” Coach Urgo explained. “He’s been putting a lot of energy and effort into that, which paid off today.”
Fordham shot 23-26 from the line as a team against St. John’s, but it would take more than free throws to gain an advantage over the Johnnies’ first half offense. Shooting 45% from the field in the first half, 55% from 3-point range, the Red Storm quickly stretched their lead to 20-8 right out of the under-12 media timeout. On the arc, Drissa Traore was 2-3 off two open looks. Nahiem Alleyne and Jordan Dingle provided a wide array of layups, jumpers, and 3-pointers, shooting a combined 5-8 in the first. Inside, it was all Soriano, scoring 10 in the first, with 6 of those points scored in the paint.
In the postgame, Soriano emphasized that he was not too focused on putting on a strong performance against his former team, but instead on helping his current team bounce back after a loss to Boston College last Sunday.
“Today really wasn’t about that fight,” Soriano explained. “We needed to take a big step on defense as a team.”
Defensively, St. John’s would record 7 total blocks against Fordham.
However, while St. John’s built their lead as high as 18 with 7 minutes left in the half, Fordham finished the half with several big stops of their own. In those final 7 minutes, the Rams outscored St. John’s 15-9, holding the Red Storm scoreless for the final 2:27 of the half. In the second, after the Johnnies pushed their lead back up 18, the Rams forced a 4:41 scoreless drought, but scored just 4 points themselves in that same span.
While impressed by the defensive stretch, Coach Urgo emphasized the need for consistency before and after big runs.
“We played hard in stretches, but we gave up way too big of a lead in the first half so it was hard to overcome,” Urgo said. “St. John’s made some tough plays as well during that stretch where we were getting some stops. We also got a bunch of turnovers and we didn’t convert on the offensive end.”
Fordham finished the game with 8 points off of turnovers (St. John’s with 17), while scoring 12 second chance points off of 11 offensive rebounds (St. John’s scored 12 off of 12 offensive boards).
Out of the run, Fordham struggled to find open looks from three to close the gap, and St. John’s outscored the Rams 24-13 in the final 10 minutes of the game. In the 77-55 loss, Joshua Rivera would lead all Rams scorers with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist. The Red Storm’s Joel Soriano would lead all scorers with 20 points, his 5th 20+ point performance of the season.
Despite the loss, Coach Urgo also made sure to highlight the Fordham fan presence at the Garden, as well as what it means to play at the Mecca of Basketball.
“It’s an incredible experience. It’s a dream come true,” Urgo said. “To head coach at any point, that’s obviously a dream come true, but it’s obviously a dream come true to coach in the World’s Greatest Arena. Our fans came out to support [today]. They’ve been great over the course of the last couple of years, and we need to continue that.”
Fordham returns to action on Thursday when they host Central Connecticut State.