By Malcolm Price
2 12 2025
Rams and Flyers to tip off at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ and 90.7 FM
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BRONX, N.Y. (Feb. 11, 2025) – Victorious in three of its last four games, the Fordham men’s basketball team will return to action on Wednesday night when it welcomes Dayton to the Rose Hill Gym for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
The contest will air live on ESPN+ with Andrew Bogusch and Jason Crafton on the call. 90.7 FM WFUV will also carry the contest with Nick Guzman, Lou Orlando and Dominic Sansone narrating the action.
Coming off its final bye weekend of the regular season, Fordham (11-12, 3-7 A-10) will look to win for the fourth time in its last five opportunities when it welcomes Dayton to the Bronx. The team’s one loss during this successful stretch was a two-point defeat on the road at St. Bonaventure on Feb. 1, a contest that saw Fordham erase a 16-point deficit to knot the score at 68 in the closing minutes.
The Rams’ most recent victory on Wednesday night came in thrilling fashion, as Matt Zona tipped home a Japhet Medor layup with 2.3 seconds remaining to give Fordham an 80-79 victory. The Bronx Rams trailed by four with 18 seconds to play before Jackie Johnson III sank a clutch 3-pointer and Zona sealed the game following a missed Rhode Island free throw.
Johnson led the way with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including a 5-for-11 mark from beyond the arc. The effort marked his 11th outing of the year with 20 or more points. As of Tuesday morning, Johnson ranks second in the Atlantic 10 averaging 18.7 points per game.
Joshua Rivera added a season-high 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting in addition to pulling down seven boards and dishing out three assists. The junior forward from New Brunswick, N.J., has reached double figures in six straight games and is 27-of-52 (51.9%) from the floor over his last five.
Medor continued his recent stretch of stellar play against URI, scoring 17 points and dishing out six assists in 39 minutes of action. The graduate student has reached double figures in each of the team’s last nine games, scoring 17 or more points six times during that span. His 4.1 assists per contest are good for sixth in the Atlantic 10 while his 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks seventh in the league. In just his third year of Division I basketball, Medor enters the game with 998 career points.
Abdou Tsimbila also enters the Dayton game with a career milestone in his sights; the graduate student owns 199 career blocks, 190 of which have come at Fordham. Tsimbila currently ranks fourth on the Rams’ career blocks list, 27 shy of Dud Tongal (217, 1978-82) in third.
Dayton, which has risen as high as no. 22 in the Associated Press poll this season following wins over UConn and Marquette, heads to the Bronx with a record of 16-8, including a 6-5 mark in A-10 action. The Flyers fell in their most recent outing, a 73-68 loss to VCU on Friday night at UD Arena. Nate Santos and Javon Bennett led the way offensively for Dayton, finishing with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Bennett also chipped in a game-high five steals.
On the season, Santos leads the Flyers with 14.5 points per game. Senior guard Enoch Cheeks adds 12.6 points and a team-high 6.0 boards per contest despite standing at just 6-foot-3.
Fordham and Dayton will meet for the 43rd time in the history of the two programs, a series that favors the Flyers by a 36-6 margin since it began in 1953. The Rams’ last win over Dayton came on Jan. 5, 2021, a 55-54 victory at the Rose Hill Gym. Since the two became Atlantic 10 foes in 1995-96, all three of Fordham’s wins in the series have come in the Bronx.
After taking on the Flyers, Fordham will hit the road for a Saturday evening showdown at Richmond. Tip-off from the Robins Center is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and 90.7 FM WFUV.
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