The Jaspers faced off against a tough Fordham team on Monday, Nov. 27. The final score of the game was 93-61 in favor of the Rams. ISAIAH ROSARIO/THEQUADRANGLE
By Isaiah Rosario, Sports Editor
After a 745-day hiatus, Manhattan College and Fordham University were set to tip off for their annual Battle of the Bronx at 7 P.M. The two historic Bronx schools have been facing off since 1912 and the tradition continued on Nov. 27.
Ahead of the Battle of the Bronx, the leading scorer for the Rams was senior Japhet Medor who averaged 13.8 points per game, and for the Jaspers was freshman Seydou Traore who averaged 15 points per game.
The Jaspers were heading into the game with a 3-2 record, with wins against Bryant University, Felician University, and Central Connecticut State University. The two losses came against the previous two NCAA champions University of Kansas and the University of Connecticut.
This was the first time Jasper head coach John Gallagher experienced the Battle of the Bronx, but it was not the first go-around for coach Heather Vunlin and the Lady Jaspers as they were able to leave Rose Hill Gymnasium with a win of 58-44 on Nov. 16.
The Lady Jaspers had three players in double figures, Anne Bair, Tegan Young and Amar Nitzan who led the Lady Jaspers with 17 points, six assists and one rebound.
The starting lineup for the Jaspers was Seydou Traore, Shaquil Bender, Jaden Winston, Perry Cowan and Daniel Rouzan. Starting for the Rams were Japhet Medor, Kyle Rose, Antrell Charlton, Abdou Tsimbila and Joshua Rivera.
At 07:02 P.M., Tsimbila for the Rams and Rouzan for the Jaspers tipped off with Rouzan winning the tip. Rouzan opened up the scoring in the game, with a floater on the baseline. Medor answered back with a three to put the Rams up one with 18 minutes left to play.
Medor for the Rams scored six out of the first eight points for the Rams, but Traore kept the Jaspers in it with a quick layup. At the first media timeout, the score was tied at eight a piece.
The first subs came around the 15th minute as Briggs McClain, Elijah Gray, Zach Riley and Ogheneyole Akuwovo entered the game.
Halfway through the first half, the Jaspers and the Rams traded baskets back and forth as the score constantly remained tied or a one-possession game and at the official halfway mark the game was tied at 22.
Scary moment for Jasper fans as McClain fell on his ankle awkwardly after a made three which forced coach Gallagher to call their first timeout. The injury scare comes after a season-ending knee injury to Brett Rumpel in the Jaspers’ loss to the University of Connecticut.
“I’m an Irish Catholic from Delaware County right outside of Philly,” Gallagher said when speaking about McClain’s injury scare in the first half. “We have the saying they go in threes and in my mind, I thought is this coming in threes here? You know, the bad luck. When he came back [in the game], he moved great. He looked good. I know the shots didn’t fall but he looked like the old Briggs.”
Rose Hill erupted for the time in the evening after an and-one from Gray which resulted in a two-point lead for the Rams. The two-point lead for the Rams would be extended as Rivera hit a reverse layup to put the Rams up four, 29-25.
“You got to love Rose Thrill, we love the fans,” Rose said. “We love playing in front of you guys. You guys coming in, you guys electrify us as well. We try to do our best to protect our hill.”
Baskets continued to be traded with about four minutes to play as the Rams were only able to extend their lead by two with under four to go with a score of 37-31. Turnovers for the Jaspers would show out to be costly as the Rams would score 9 unanswered which extended the lead for the Rams to 13 points with under two minutes to play and caused Gallagher to use his second timeout of the half.
After moving the ball around the key, the Jaspers were able to find an open McClain in the corner for 3 to cut the lead to 11. Medor attempted a buzzer-beater to close out the half but missed.
Briggs and Rouzan were both the leading scorers for the Jaspers at the half, with both having 10 points. The leading scorer for the Rams at the half was Medor with 12 points, four assists, and three steals.
The score at halftime was 47-36. Turnovers were high on both sides of the ball as the Jaspers committed 10 turnovers and the Rams committed six turnovers themselves. The Rams were able to turn the 10 Jasper turnovers to 12 points which showed prevalent in the deficit at half.
The scoring in the second half opened with a pull-up jumper from Rouzan to bring the Jaspers within single digits. The single-digit lead would not last long as Rivera made a lay-up to bring it back within 11.
Tsimbila would score the next four points unanswered to extend the Rams lead to 16 points. After a contested lay-up by Winston, he was awarded a technical foul after ‘flexing his muscles’ celebration.
The lead for the Rams would officially be 20 points after a hard foul by Rouzan and two made free throws by Rose with 16 minutes left to play. Rouzan would come back to make a rebound off a miss to put the Jaspers down by only 18.
The 18-point lead did not last long as Rose was assisted by Charlton for three that put the Jaspers down 21 points. Frustrations started to sit in from the Jaspers as after a three-pointer by Rose, Traore threw the ball out of bounds on an inbound pass.
With 12 minutes to play, the Jaspers looked for the spark of the offense and to go on a run, but it did not seem to happen as the Rams’ lead would extend to 22 points. With 11 minutes to play Jahmere Tripp of the Rams was able to connect on two free throws to extend the Rams lead to 23 points.
The Herd, Fordham’s student section erupted as Rouzan attempted a poster, but was blocked. While the crowd was active and alive, Romad Dean was able to throw a lay-up off the glass to extend the Ram lead to 27 points.
Xinyi Li was able to score his first points of the game on a lay-up where he was fouled but missed the free throw. The Rams came down on the missed free throw and were able to convert the driving lay-up for a three-point swing.
The benches were emptied for both teams around the four-and-a-half-minute mark as the Rams were up by 33 points. The second half was all Rams as the Jaspers fell by 32 points. The final score of the game was 93-61.
“Just buying into the defensive side,” Rose said when discussing the turning point of the game. “We were going to plan on getting stops and we just felt confident enough we’re gonna score on the other end. Our biggest thing we wanted to focus on was finding a way to stop them and then allow the offense to do the talking. As you can see we’re pretty talented on offense and so we just let our offense come. We play with a lot of trust in each other and get each other up to our right spots.”
The leading scorers for the game were Rouzan and Medor. Rouzan in 28 minutes tallied 15 points, while shooting 50% from the field, having three assists and two rebounds. In 32 minutes, Medor scored 16 points while shooting 57% from three, tallying six assists and two rebounds. Medor also shot
It was a different Jasper team in the second half of the game compared to the first half. The Rams outscored the Jaspers by 21 points in the second half and showed signs of wear and tear from the physical Rams offense and defense.
“I want to give a shout-out to coach Gallagher and his team that came in and they gave us a run for our money, in the first 12 minutes, they were prepared,” Fordham men’s basketball coach Kieth Urgo said. “He’s gonna do a great job there. I think the news of their their sophomore guard Brett Rumpel really hurt them and their rotation tonight and that as a result, we were trying to wear them down … use our depth to wear them down and I think they started to tear down a little bit towards the back end of the first half and then we carried that into the second half.”
Jasper’s next game is on Friday, Dec. 8., at 7 P.M. against Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU). FDU knocked off number one-seeded Purdue in the 2023 March Madness Tournament. FDU was only the second team to complete that feat, the Jaspers will have their hands full.