Fordham Basketball

Fordham's Jon Severe will return to the program Friday after a one-month leave of absence, Rams head coach Tom Pecora told Bleacher Report Thursday night.

"Having Jon Severe back with us at 100 percent will obviously raise our talent level and make us a better basketball team," Pecora said. "The key to the process is Jon feeling comfortable enough to come back and compete on a daily basis."

It's been a turbulent start to the 2014-15 season for Severe, a sophomore, who last year averaged 17.3 points per game. 

On Nov. 8, six days before Fordham opened its season, Severe was suspended for one week due to a violation of team rules. He missed the Rams' first game, and when he returned, he scored five points and played a combined 39 minutes in three games.

Then, on Nov. 29, the school announced that Severe was taking a leave of absence and would be out indefinitely. He's missed the Rams' last seven games as a result.

Pecora said Severe will practice Friday after the two meet earlier in the morning, and he'll be available Sunday when Fordham opens Atlantic 10 play with a home game against VCU. He said the fact that Fordham is about to begin what will be a very difficult conference schedule had no bearing on Severe's return.

"The timing of it wasn't dictated by our schedule," Pecora said. "It was dictated by how he was feeling.

"It was a group decision. I'm not rushing him back because we're getting into A-10 play. Unless he's right, he's not going to help us anyways."

Severe's return could have a major impact on the Rams' season.

He has the potential to be an elite scorer. With three players—Eric Paschall (15.8 points per game), Mandell Thomas (13.3 PPG) and Christian Sengfelder (12.3 PPG)—averaging in double figures, adding a fourth scorer, a guy as capable as Severe, will add depth to a rotation that's increased its production of late.

Furthermore, his return comes at what would appear to be the perfect time for Fordham, though, it's merely a coincidence that it's happening now. The nonconference schedule is over, and as tough as those 11 games were for the 5-6 Rams, these next 18 will be even tougher, starting Sunday when VCU comes to town.

Following that game, Fordham will travel to Rhode Island, come back home for Dayton and hit the road again for Saint Joseph's. You get the point: Nothing will be easy over the next two months. Fordham will need all the help it can get, and Severe is a player capable of providing just that.

Finally, with Paschall leading the Rams in scoring, Sengfelder getting better every game, Thomas emerging as a go-to guy and strong play down low from Ryan Rhoomes—among some other notable developments so far this season—it's easy to see why Pecora remains confident that the Rams can turn it around.

"If you look at the youth of this team," Pecora said after Fordham's win over Howard on Sunday night, "it would be foolish to think that we're not going to grow and become a better team as we move forward."

Pecora said he expects to win games against A-10 teams. Severe could play a big part in how many the Rams get.

Of course, we've been here before with Severe. He'll have to stay focused, earn his playing time and give the effort it will take to become part of the team again.

But it's important to remember that Severe was supposed to be a huge part of Fordham's plan for this year and into the future. It seems only right that he's back and will have the opportunity to contribute. When he's on—and that means mentally just as much as physically—he has the potential to be one of the top players in the conference.

Now we'll see if he can turn that promise into a reality.

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora reiterates the Rams' formula for success every time he speaks to the media after a game.

Win or lose, Pecora talks about the need for his veterans to step up and lead the way.

In Sunday's 74-59 win over Howard in front of 1,568 at the Rose Hill Gym, it was the play of two juniors and three freshmen that secured Fordham's fourth win of the season and its first since Dec. 10.

Junior Mandell Thomas had his best game of the season, scoring 17 points and adding seven assists and six rebounds. Ryan Rhoomes, also a junior, had 11 points and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, freshman Christian Sengfelder scored a team-high 19 points, all in the second half, while fellow rookies Eric Paschall (15 points) and Antwoine Anderson (nine assists) had strong games.

Fordham will need that type of production going forward in its final nonconference game Wednesday and when conference play gets underway Sunday.

"I think we have good balance," Pecora said after last night's win. "Good teams have four or five guys in double digits. It's a brush fire and you can't put it out—somebody is always picking somebody else up. Balance is a good thing."

Thomas' performance stands out. He didn't have the thunderous dunk that Rhoomes had in the second half, which gave the Rams a 63-45 lead, nor did he have the acrobatic slam that Paschall turned in that sent Fordham into the break ahead by two.

What he did was knock down shots, distribute the ball and rebound. There were no highlight-reel dunks, but Thomas consistently made plays that teams need players to make in order to win games.

"It's important for me to get the freshmen going and get them comfortable," Thomas said, recalling that he was a freshman not too long ago. "I also have to stay aggressive. That's what I did tonight."

It may be unfair, and perhaps premature, to say this was his coming-out party. Thomas is in his third year, and he's had big games before. But it was by far his best game of the season, a reminder that, while the Rams are young and building for the future, he's going to play a big part in what happens over the next couple of years at Rose Hill.

"We need to have that veteran leadership," Pecora said. "That will lift up these young guys tremendously, and it will allow them to play with less pressure."

Sengfelder, who is coming on strong as conference play approaches, said the three upperclassmen—Rhoomes, Thomas, and senior Bryan Smith—have helped out a lot.

"[They] give us advice and make us feel more comfortable to make the right decisions," he said.

Against Howard, Fordham led 28-26 at halftime but went on a 10-0 run early in the second half to take a commanding 40-30 lead. The Rams led by as many as 20, and for the first time this year, they could breathe easy—or easier—down the stretch.

"We have to play back-to-back halves like we did in the second half tonight to beat South Carolina State [Wednesday] and to build off of that and go into A-10 play and get some wins, which I anticipate us doing," Pecora said.

"I expect us to continue to get better. We just have to keep working on the little things, and we're going to be OK."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Last month, Fordham was shocked in its own gym in consecutive games against what were thought to be inferior opponents.

On Nov. 23, UMass Lowell came into the Rose Hill Gym and dealt the Rams one of their most bitter defeats in recent memory. Six days later, Maryland Eastern Shore arrived and did the same.

To some extent, Fordham has rebounded from the early setbacks, though last night's 71-57 loss to Manhattan at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, was its second in a row.

Fordham led 16-4 six minutes and 16 seconds into the game, but Manhattan proceeded to outscore the Rams, 26-9, to take a five-point lead into the break.

The Jaspers started the second half with a 22-5 run and led by 22. Though the Rams got it down to nine with 1:33 to play, this really wasn't much of a game in the second half.

Fordham turned the ball over 18 times. It shot 42.6 percent from the floor, 48 percent from the free-throw line and 31.3 percent from three-point range. Only one Ram—Mandell Thomas—scored in double digits (14 points). From a statistical standpoint and pretty much across the board, it was not a good night for Fordham, which dropped to 3-6 on the year.

This wasn't just your normal game on a Monday night in December. For Fordham, it was much bigger than that.

For starters, though nobody will mistake this rivalry for Duke-North Carolina, Fordham and Manhattan have been playing basketball against each other for over 100 years. The schools, both located in the Bronx, New York, are close geographically. Monday night was the 107th time the schools have met, but only the second time they've played outside of the Bronx. With the win, the Jaspers hold a 56-51 advantage in the series.

Also, the game presented the Rams with a chance to get a win against a rival under the bright lights of one of New York City's biggest and best venues—a showcase game, if you will. That, of course, didn't happen.

Finally, the Rams are two weeks away from beginning what is sure to be a grueling 18-game Atlantic 10 schedule. They have to compile as many nonconference wins as they can. After the devastating losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore, Fordham has had some ground to make up. That made last night's game even more important. With Manhattan entering the game with a 3-7 record, it was one Fordham needed and one it looked like it could get. There aren't too many of those left.

Looking ahead, Howard and South Carolina State will make their way to the Rose Hill Gym on Dec. 28 and Dec. 31, respectively. Both teams are under .500. The Rams need to win both games.

If they do, they'll be 5-6 heading into league play. Maybe not what they envisioned at the start of the season but at this point, in what has been an up-and-down year to date, they'll have to take it.

Game information and statistics courtesy of FordhamSports.com.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter @CFCostello.

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora has been saying all along that the Rams' three upperclassmen—senior Bryan Smith and juniors Ryan Rhoomes and Mandell Thomas—have to "lead the way."

When they do, Fordham has a shot, as evidenced by the wins over the New York Institute of Technology, Siena and Monmouth.

But it's also true that, at least to some degree, the Rams will only go as far as the current freshmen take them—this year and beyond.

The rookie class of Eric Paschall, Christian Sengfelder, Antwoine Anderson, Nemanja Zarkovic, Manny Suarez, Dekeba Battee-Aston and Zaire Thompson arrived with expectations. When you've completed 19 seasons in the Atlantic 10 and finished below .500 in 17 of them, expectations are a good thing.

If you're looking for hope—for an ounce of optimism about a program that's lost 90 games in four-plus seasons under Pecora—look no further than Paschall and Sengfelder.

Paschall, last year's New England Prep Player of the Year and the Rams' biggest recruit in recent memory, was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week following his 31-point, 10-rebound performance in Fordham's opening-night win over NYIT.

Through the first seven games—Paschall did not play at Maryland due to an irregular heartbeat—he's averaging 18.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

He's had highlight dunks and knocked down some big shots, but his best play to date is one that happened on the defensive end of the floor.

In desperate need of a win against Siena following crushing defeats to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore, Paschall blocked a shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime. The freshman saved the day.

Earlier this week, after leading the Rams to a 68-58 overtime win over Monmouth, Sengfelder was also named A-10 Rookie of the Week. In the game against the Hawks, he had a season-high 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Two other freshmen could end up playing huge roles as well.

Anderson and Zarkovic have both started games at the point and both are part of the long-term plan. Anderson has started the last three games and shown some promise.

It hasn't been smooth sailing for Fordham this year. The losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore were as bad as losses can be.

Jon Severe, the team's leading returning scorer, was suspended for a week and missed the Rams' opener, then took a leave of absence a week later. He has yet to return to the team.

Fordham hasn't even gotten to the starting line of the most difficult part of its race: the Atlantic 10 schedule.

So, yes, the veterans are important. Two of them, Rhoomes and Thomas, will be around next year and have been instrumental in the team's wins this year.

But it's the Paschalls and the Sengfelders who are here for the next few years—building blocks on a team that's got a whole lot of building to do.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter @CFCostello.

Fordham won its second game in a row Wednesday night, a 68-58 overtime victory over Monmouth in front of a sparse crowd of 1,130 at the Rose Hill Gym.

A three-pointer from Monmouth's Collin Stewart as time expired in regulation tied the game, 52-52, and forced the extra session.

But after the Hawks scored first, Fordham responded, outscoring them 16-4 the rest of the way to improve to 3-4 on the young season.

"It's a good win," Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said when he met with the media following the game. "There weren't many people in this building who thought we were going to win in overtime because all the momentum was going their way. I think we showed a lot of grit and toughness in continuing to compete and make the plays we needed to make."

The win is the most important story, but who can forget the drama in how it all played out?

After Monmouth scored the first basket of the game, the Rams responded with an 11-0 run. They put together a solid first half—their best 20 minutes of basketball of the season—and led 31-22 at the break.

In the second half, the Hawks made one run after another. Fordham led by nine, 50-41, with four minutes, 15 seconds to go. But the Hawks would go on an 8-2 run before the unthinkable happened with Monmouth down by three.

Originally, there were 0.9 seconds on the clock when officials gave a timeout to Monmouth though it was unclear who actually called for time. After a conference, 2.5 seconds were put back on the clock, setting up a dramatic end to regulation.

Fordham's philosophy, shared by coaches throughout the country, is to foul to prevent the opponent from getting off a three-pointer that could tie the game. Off the inbounds pass, Christian Sengfelder was unable to foul Stewart, who slipped past him, took a couple of dribbles and connected on the game-tying shot from beyond the arc.

"Crazy last few seconds," Pecora said. [Christian] doesn't foul hard enough. The good thing out of that is he'll never make that mistake again."

In overtime, Monmouth scored first before a three-pointer by Eric Paschall got the Rams going. Fordham was 9-of-11 from the free-throw line in the extra session, a significant development after it shot 40 percent from the line in the first half and 50 percent from the line in the second half. Down the stretch, it struggled at the line, with Antwoine Anderson missing three key free throws late.

Pecora said that practice doesn't end until the Rams shoot 80 percent from the line. They shot 59.3 percent overall from the charity stripe Wednesday night.

"We shot 60 [percent] today [from the free-throw line]. That was a difference-maker," Pecora said.

"When you're a young team, you're trying to teach them how to smell blood and put teams away. We're still working on that."

Sengfelder finished with a team-high 21 points. He added 11 rebounds, five on the offensive end. He'll remember the play he didn't make at the end of regulation and a couple other mistakes he pointed out after the game, but overall, he had a solid game. Not bad for a freshman who admitted that he was going through what all freshmen in the country go through this early in their college careers.

"I had a pretty good game, but in the end, keeping my composure was tough," Sengfelder admitted. "Even though I had a good game on the stat sheet, I almost lost it. It was tough to stay composed, especially when the game was on the line. I fought back in overtime.

"I have to get used to it. I need to adjust a little bit more."

Monmouth is by no means a pushover. The Hawks entered the game with a 4-4 record, coming off two straight wins against MAAC opponents—Marist and Iona. Their losses came against West Virginia, Towson, Maryland and SMU.

Meanwhile, the Rams hadn't played since their win nine days ago over Siena. That win was big, as it came on the heels of two horrible home losses—first to UMass Lowell then six days later to Maryland Eastern Shore. 

None of Fordham's games this year will be easy, but the next two present some intriguing challenges. On Sunday, Fordham will play St. John's at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm are hot. Last Saturday, they beat Syracuse, 69-57, at the Carrier Dome, a win that earned them the No. 24 ranking in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll. Last night, St. John's beat Fairleigh Dickinson, 74-52, to improve to 7-1 on the year.

Last December, the Red Storm crushed Fordham, 104-58. This St. John's team is better than the one the Rams saw last year.

Eight days after that one, Fordham will take on Manhattan at the Barclays Center. The Jaspers are 2-5, but that, too, is a rivalry game—one Manhattan will definitely want to get after the Rams beat them on their home turf a year ago.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make. Before the Siena game, Fordham was sinking. Now, the Rams are swimming.

"I’m excited about this group," Pecora said. "It's a good blend of veterans and young guys."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham's Tom Pecora knew he'd be coaching a young team in 2014-15. But he also knew that his veterans—two juniors and one senior—would be just as important to the team's success as the seven freshmen. 

When Pecora met the media following Fordham's win over Siena last Monday, he brought with him Ryan Rhoomes, the Rams' 6'8" junior forward, fresh off a six-point, 17-rebound, five-block performance that helped the Rams end their four-game skid.

"He dominated the backboards," Pecora said about Rhoomes during his remarks about the game. "He was solid in a lot of ways, and that was a key for us."

Rhoomes, a co-captain, led the Rams in rebounding (6.9 per game) and blocks (28 total) last season.

But this season, Fordham needs more from him. A star coming out of high school, Rhoomes has the potential to be a dominating force in the paint. With senior Ryan Canty out for the year following back surgery, he's one of just three upperclassmen who will see significant minutes. Fordham desperately needs his ability, size and leadership.

"We need our veterans just to show the way, lead the way for these freshmen," Pecora said. 

Rhoomes was a major force in the Rams' win over Siena. Both of his field goals came at crucial points in the second half. With 10 minutes, 27 seconds to go, he connected off a feed from Antwoine Anderson that put Fordham ahead by 11. With 7:19 to play and the Saints cutting into the lead, Rhoomes grabbed an offensive rebound and drew a foul while connecting on a layup that gave the Rams a six-point lead. Of his 17 rebounds on the night, six came on the offensive end.

Not to be overlooked was his play on the other end of the floor, where Fordham turned in its best defensive effort of the season.

"[Ryan's] out there making the calls," Pecora said when addressing the defense. "I'm doing a lot of it through him."

It was quite the journey for Rhoomes before he finally arrived at Rose Hill in 2012. As a senior in high school, he led Cardozo in Queens, New York, to the Borough Championship and the PSAL Class AAA title game, averaged 16.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game and was named the team's Most Valuable Player. Rhoomes' high school career began at Middletown South in New York. He also attended NIA Prep in Newark, New Jersey, the year before he joined the Rams.

So far this season, Rhoomes has shown flashes of what people hoped he'd be able to provide on a nightly basis. He leads the Atlantic 10 in rebounding, averaging 11.2 per game (6.2 on the offensive end). He pulled down 13 rebounds in Fordham's opening-night win over the New York Institute of Technology, 15 in the loss to UMass Lowell and then 17 in the Rams' second win of the year. He's averaging nine points per game, and he has 12 blocks through the first six games of the season.

"This year Coach [Pecora] wanted me to go out there and make up for Canty not being around," Rhoomes said after the Siena game. "I knew I had to step up on the boards."

Last Monday, on a night when freshman sensation Eric Paschall blocked a shot at the buzzer that sealed the win and garnered the attention, it was the overall play of the junior Rhoomes that was arguably the most noteworthy takeaway for Fordham.

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

By Fordham head coach Tom Pecora's estimation after the loss to Maryland Eastern Shore, the Rams had three freshmen on the floor for about 90 percent of the game. 

Pecora wasn't using age as an excuse, but anyone who saw what took place inside the Rose Hill Gym Saturday afternoon—missed free throws, bad shot selection, costly turnovers, poor defense—could tell that the Rams' youth and inexperience (they have seven freshmen on the roster) played a big part in the 72-66 loss, their fourth in a row.

That's what made Monday night's 69-67 win over Siena so significant. For the first time since opening night against the New York Institute of Technology, Fordham played the bulk of the game with a lead. After trailing early, the Rams went on a 16-0 run in the first half that gave them a 26-18 advantage, one they never relinquished.

In the second half, Fordham increased its lead to as many as 13. But with 6:27 to go, the lead had been cut to 58-55. Moments later, with 3:39 left in the game, it was down to 63-61. And with 20.4 seconds left, Fordham's lead was still at two, 67-65.

The Rams were in uncharted waters: a close game late, playing with the lead and challenged right to the last shot.

Down the stretch, as Pecora noted, there were three freshmen (Antwoine Anderson, Eric Paschall and Christian Sengfelder) and two juniors (Ryan Rhoomes and Mandell Thomas) on the floor. In the end, a game-saving block by Paschall as time expired sealed the win.

Paschall finished with 19 points, while Anderson and Thomas added 18 apiece. Rhoomes had 17 rebounds.

After the game, Pecora called his freshmen "fearless" and said he expects his veterans to be that way as well. On Monday night, they were.

"We need our veterans to lead the way for these freshmen," Pecora said. "We have three freshmen on the floor just about all the time. We need Ryan and we need Mandell [Thomas] and Bryan Smith. They're our only three upperclassmen so they have to lead the way a little bit. ... That's where we are right now. We're young."

On Saturday against UMES, Fordham turned the ball over 20 times. Against Siena, they turned it over 13 times. 

"I thought we did a great job against their pressure," Pecora said. "Lesson learned after Maryland Eastern Shore. To be pressed as much as we were [against Siena] and to have 13 turnovers—a lot weren't in the backcourt—I think that was big for us." 

It wasn't the only area of improvement, something Pecora pointed out in his postgame comments to the media following the Siena win, calling the team's performance "a sign of maturity."

"What I put on the board [after the game] was 41 percent from the field, only 13 turnovers and plus-four on the backboards. That's why we won the basketball game."

For one night, at least, the reality of Fordham's situation played out in its favor. The Rams aren't going to become older overnight, but they can show growth.

"We were looking at a year where we thought we'd be starting Ryan Rhoomes at the 4 and Ryan Canty at the 5, and Jon [Severe] would be with us at the 2," Pecora said. "That's not the way it is right now, but so what? You go out, you coach them up, [and] they let you do that. They practiced real hard all week.

"I'm very proud of them. That's a good win."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Jon Severe—Fordham University’s talented, yet, at times, enigmatic guard—has taken a leave of absence and is out indefinitely. In a statement emailed to the media Saturday, the school said Severe would take the leave "to address personal issues."

Severe, who averaged 17.3 points per game as a freshman, was suspended six days before the Rams’ opener due to a violation of team rules. As a result, he missed Fordham’s first game. When he returned, he played just 39 minutes in three games and scored only five points.

“We will continue to support Jon as he addresses some personal issues off the court,” Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said in the email from the school. “We wish him and his family all the best during this process and hope that everyone will respect their privacy.”

Fordham was 0-3 with Severe in the lineup. After losing to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), 72-66, Saturday at the Rose Hill Gym, its 1-1 without him.

On first thought, no one would say that the Rams are a better team without Severe. But with him, they struggled. And with Severe taking a leave, this break could be what's best for him and the team. At least, that's what Fordham might be hoping is the case.

Meanwhile, Fordham took to the court Saturday in desperate need of a win after an unfathomable loss to the University of Massachusetts Lowell last Sunday.

The Rams were down at the half, 32-26, and UMES increased its lead to 46-34 early in the second.

But then Fordham began its biggest and most important surge of the season, outscoring the Hawks 14-4 to cut the lead to two, 50-48, with 10:48 to go. UMES would go back up by six, and after Fordham got it back down to two, 55-53, with 7:46 left, the Hawks increased their lead to eight.

The Rams had another comeback in them, and they again trailed by just two with 2:46 left thanks to an Eric Paschall layup and made free throw.

Fordham had the ball down by three with 1:03 to go, but Mandell Thomas' attempt in the lane was blocked. With 45 seconds left, UMES had possession and, as it turned out, the game. They scored five unanswered points to seal the win.

"Men against boys for a good portion of the game, especially in the first half," was how Pecora described it in his postgame comments. "You look at turnovers and you look at free throws missed...I think that's where the game was lost."

Fordham turned the ball over 20 times and made just 64.5 percent of its free throws.

There's work to be done on the defensive end as well.

"Our defensive intensity wasn't there in the first half," Pecora said. "In the second half, we caused a few more turnovers to try to get some easy baskets."

Pecora also said that his team continues to take too many three-pointers (Fordham was 4-of-17 from beyond the arc), calling it another sign of the Rams' youth.

"We just look really young, and we are," he said. "I would say for 90 percent of this game, we had three freshmen on the floor. But that's the way it's going to be. We need more from the veterans."

Pecora maintained it was a better effort than last Sunday, but acknowledged it wasn't good enough to get the win.

"It came down to little things that could really turn the game around for us," he said. "We dug ourselves a hole and expended a lot of energy getting back into the game and never got over the top."

Paschall led the way with 25 points, Thomas chipped in with 13 and Antwoine Anderson scored 10 with a team-high five assists.

Unless otherwise noted, quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello.