Manhattan comes from behind to defeat rival Fordham
The 6th Borough Student Section was rocking all night at Draddy Gym in Riverdale and they were rewarded at the end of the night. Due to COVID, Bronx neighbors Manhattan and Fordham were unable to have their annual Battle of the Bronx in 2020–21, but this year’s version made up for the lost time.
The first few possessions of the game were difficult for Manhattan, who hadn’t faced a Division I opponent yet this year. They appeared shocked by the athleticism of Fordham, and were unable to play the way that they wanted to play. Fordham’s Chuba Ohams picked up eight points in the first 8:44 of the game, outscoring the whole Jaspers team as the Rams took a 16–6 lead.
With 3:19 left in the first half, Chuba Ohams hit a free throw to bring the Ram lead to 29–19. Ohams had 13 points and it seemed like Fordham was in control. That is when the switch started to flip. An 8–0 run for Manhattan where they shot 4–4 brought the deficit to just two with under a minute left in the first half. Fordham sunk two free throws to make it a 31–27 game at halftime, and of those 31, Ohams had 15.
From that point forward, Ohams struggled, and the game became a war of attrition. For a 3:25 stretch early in the second half, neither team had a single point, and Fordham maintained a five point edge.
The crowd was on edge all night, waiting to erupt, and it didn’t seem like they’d get that chance when Fordham took a 48–38 lead on a Darius Quisenberry three-pointer with under 12 minutes to play. Every time Fordham seemed to grab all of the momentum, Manhattan would chip away, but they could never quite grab control of the game.
In the last 11:37 of the game, Fordham took just four free throws, hit three field goals, turned the ball over eight times, and lost control of the game. Manhattan finally turned the tide. Antonio Daye Jr (16 points before this stretch) and Ohams (17 points before this stretch) scored a combined 2 points in the last 11:37.
With 90 seconds left, the Fordham lead was 58–56, and after a few offensive rebounds, Elijah Buchanan tied the game on a layup. Then, Ant Nelson grabbed an Ohams miss, hit Jose Perez in transition, who found Samir Stewart in the corner who sunk a go-ahead three with 34 seconds to play. The crowd went berzerk, the Jaspers had the lead for the first time.
Manhattan was able to close out the win, 66–60, and afterwards, Coach Masiello echoed the sentiment that the game was played with high emotion and high energy. “I thought our kids showed great grit, we played for the front of our jersey and not what was on the back of it.” He then tweeted out
Buchanan, who led the team with 17 points, told reporters “Every time this game [Fordham v Manhattan] comes up I don’t want to let my team down,” and he didn’t let his team down one bit.
Ohams picked up 18 rebounds to go along with his 17 points for Fordham, who falls to 1–1, and will host St. Thomas on Monday.
Manhattan improves to 2–0 (1–0 against Division I opponents), and will travel to Old Dominion on Monday.
