Image by Hunter Hensel
Recent rematches were the name of the game for Fordham in this year’s Atlantic 10 Tournament. After a decisive win over Rhode Island in Round 1, merely 4 days after their meeting in the regular season finale, Fordham advanced to play the George Washington Revolutionaries, a team the Rams hosted at Rose Hill Gym 8 days prior.
In GW’s first meeting against the Rams, an 81-58 blowout, the Revs took an early lead and never looked back. The Revs tried to set a similar tone Thursday evening, as Christian Jones grabbed a bucket less than 5 seconds from tip to give the Revs an early 2-0 lead. Fordham quickly responded with buckets from Abdou Tsimbila and Jackie Johnson to give the Rams a 7-6 advantage by the 17-minute mark.
While the Rams trailed by just 4 points at the under-16 media timeout, GW’s intensity on both ends of the floor allowed the Revs to slowly pull away to an eventual 8-point lead at halftime. Offensively, GW dominated the paint for 26 first half points down low. Rafael Castro led the way in that area, posting up aggressively against Rams C Abdou Tsimbila for 8 points off of a perfect 3-3 from the field in the period.
Defensively, GW frequently broke through Fordham screens to give Rams ballhandlers little space, while also running tough double teams on Rams guards Japhet Medor and Jackie Johnson III. After scoring 19 in the first half against Rhode Island en route to 26 total the day before, Medor was held 0-7 from the field in the first half against GW, his only 2 points of the period coming from the free throw line.
With Japhet Medor in trouble, it was up to Rams like Romad Dean and Josh Rivera to step up and try and match Medor’s usual offensive output. Both Rams juniors answered the call fairly well with 6 points apiece, while Jackie Johnson helped make up the difference with 15 points off of 5-9 shooting in the period. Despite holding the deficit within 4 to 7 points for most of the half, costly turnovers and a near 3-minute field goal drought saw the Rams trail by 8 at the break.
While the second half opened with both teams trading early buckets, GW’s lead hovered around the 11-point mark from the under-16 timeout to the under-12. In this stretch, GW forced another Fordham field goal drought that lasted over 4 minutes. Out of the under-12, Jackie Johnson hit two free throws to get the Rams back within single digits, but Gerald Drumgoole Jr. and Trey Autry continued to hammer the Rams from beyond the arc to stop any potential runs.
With under 5 minutes left in the game, Fordham found themselves down 72-65. Moving quickly down the court, Jackie Johnson heaved up a deep three from the A10 logo. Despite the miss, Abdou Tsimbila was able to dive for the rebound, maintaining control long enough for Fordham to call a timeout with 4:38 left to play. Out of the timeout, Fordham would go on a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the half, with Tsimbila hitting the game-tying and go-ahead second chance buckets to put the Rams up 74-72.
“We started on the defensive end,” Jackie Johnson said regarding the run. “We really honed in on that, [and then] we saw the game turn around for us.”
After GW called a timeout of their own, Trey Autry quickly snuffed out Fordham’s momentum with two consecutive threes to put the Revs back up 78-74 with 1:18 left to play. The final minute saw both teams trade trips to the line, with Autry and Johnson each hitting one more three-pointer, before GW pulled away with the 88-81 victory.
“[I] got to give him his hats off,” Japhet Medor said regarding Autry’s clutch shots. “[He] stepped up and made some big shots. [Our] hands were in his face, and he hit it. Kudos to him.”
Trey Autry led all GW scorers with 23 points in the win. Jackie Johnson led all scorers with 35.
With the loss, Fordham finished their 2024-25 campaign 12-21 overall, 3-15 in the A10 regular season. Despite a tough loss to finish the season, Coach Urgo emphasized the pride he had in his seniors and the growth this roster has shown.
“We talk all year long about being the best team we can be by the end of the year,” Coach Urgo said. “Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. But [I] wish we could keep playing, because we are the best team we could be right now.”
Coach Urgo then went on to highlight each senior and their contribution to the program, whether they had spent 1 season with the Rams or 4. Urgo also highlighted how the leadership shown by this senior class has spread to the rest of the locker room.
“We’ve got great people that continue to battle,” Urgo said. “So many [teams] that have [had] the year that we’ve had, [that had to] fight through the adversity that we’ve had, they would quit and probably be out in the first round. Not only did we not quit, but we played our best basketball here in the last two days. Unfortunately, [we] ran out of time.”
Looking ahead, Coach Urgo expressed his excitement in beginning the offseason in hopes of rebuilding Fordham’s winning culture.
“We want a place that you can sustain [winning] for a long time,” Urgo said regarding Fordham. “We’re not just a one-hit wonder. [In] today’s world, do you win right away? Do you try to get a bunch of transfers? We have a standard that’s been set, and that’s why you don’t see any quit.”
With the win, George Washington advances to the quarterfinals on Friday. They will face George Mason at 5 PM EST.
