WASHINGTON (AP) — Eighth-seeded Fordham found separation late in a defensive slugfest against George Mason en route to 54-49 victory over the Patriots in the Atlantic 10 Champioship Second Round on Thursday at Capital One Arena.
With the win, Fordham moves on to the league's Quarterfinals for the first time since 2007, facing No. 1 overall Davidson at noon on Friday.
After a back-and-forth exchange with Mason for a majority of the opening half, Fordham fell behind early in the final 20 minutes by an 11-point margin. Rams head coach Kyle Neptune called a timeout with 15:32 remaining in regulation, a stoppage which ignited an 18-7 run over the course of the next seven minutes.
"I won't tell you everything that [Coach Neptune] said," graduate student Chuba Ohams said. "He pretty much told us we were playing too comfortable. We weren't playing like we wanted it, you know what I mean? That could have been our last game. Thank God we have another game. He reiterated to us we were not playing like we wanted it. At the end of the day, whatever happens, we want to look at each other in the eyes and say that we played hard and we played together."
Another sequence of lead changes over the final minutes ended when Fordham secured a decisive advantage at the 1:50 mark. Ohams, who closed out the matchup with a game-high 20 points and 16 boards for a key double-double, put the contest out of reach with a pair of free throws.
Antrell Charlton had 11 points and seven rebounds for Fordham (16-15) as well while Abdou Tsimbila added 10 rebounds.
For George Mason (14-16), All-Conference First Teamer Josh Oduro notched 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks with Ronald Polite III tacking on 10 points. Davonte Gaines had 10 rebounds.
"They have a pretty dynamic team, obviously, with [Josh] Oduro inside, and then they have a couple of dynamic shooters on the outside," Neptune said. "It's a little bit of pick your poison. I give a lot of credit to our guys. They missed some open looks that they normally make as well. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Kim English is an unbelievable coach. They played extremely hard. We were really fortunate to come away with the victory."