GW (11-3, 0-1 A-10) dropped to Fordham (7-7, 1-0 A-10) in its first loss at home in the conference opener on Wednesday, losing 113-119 in a triple-overtime nail-biter.
The Revolutionaries put up a valiant effort but allowed Fordham to land 19 3-pointers, a school record for Fordham, and foul trouble in the third overtime period let Fordham expand its lead with just seconds remaining. Redshirt freshman forward Darren Buchanan Jr. led in scoring with a career-high 38 points — the most by a freshman this season in the country — and four steals.
Graduate student center Babatunde “Stretch” Akingbola landed four blocks during the game.
Head Coach Chris Caputo said after the game sophomore guard Benny Schröder was out due to illness, leaving only six players rotated through the game. Buchanan played the most of anyone on the team 52 minutes, and senior guard James Bishop, sophomore guard Maximus Edwards and redshirt freshman Garrett Johnson all played 50 minutes or more.
“I told them I was proud of them, I thought we fought, we matched their effort and energy, played very hard,” Caputo said. “But there’s no moral victories, and now it just doesn’t get any easier.”
Fordham took an early lead with three 3-pointers in the first minute of the game. Bishop scored the Revs’ first points of the game, landing a 3-pointer with 18:41 remaining in the first half.
“I think we got a lot to build off of here,” Bishop said after the game.
A subsequent 3-pointer from Edwards and a layup from Bishop tied the score at 11-11. GW briefly took the lead with a free throw from Akingbola, but Fordham answered shortly afterward with a layup.
With 3:58 remaining in the first half, Fordham nabbed its largest lead of the game at 45-33. But GW crept up on Fordham’s lead, making seven free throws and two layups.
Fordham racked up 10 personal fouls in the first half to GW’s five, ending the half at 44-48. GW went on an 11-2 run early in the second half that gave the Revs the lead at 58-55 with 15:36 remaining in the half, including a three-pointer from Johnson with an assist from Bishop.
The lead changed 11 more times in the half, culminating in Fordham leading 85-83 with 44 seconds remaining in the half. A Buchanan layup with 26 seconds remaining pushed the game to overtime.
Fordham took another early lead in the first overtime after Johnson fouled senior guard Kyle Rose. But two layups from Buchanan put GW back in the lead at 89-86 with 3:47 remaining. A layup from Fordham senior guard Japhet Medor with 28 seconds remaining pushed the game into its second overtime period.
Exchanged fouls between GW and Fordham kept the game tied with 2:58 remaining in the period. Fordham senior forward Abdou Tsimbila reached his fifth personal foul.
With seven seconds remaining, Fordham sophomore forward Elijah Gray hammered down a dunk, bringing the score to 102-99.
But a foul from Rose put Bishop at the free throw line with three seconds remaining. Bishop missed his second free throw, and GW secured an offensive rebound, allowing Buchanan to dunk the ball and tie the score at 102-102, sending the game into triple overtime.
Buchanan said after the game the dunk was not the play GW drew up in the preceding time out, but he went down when the sidelines called a switch.
“I just knew I had to go down,” Buchanan said.
Johnson sunk a 3-pointer with 2:52 remaining, and Bishop followed with another 3-pointer shortly afterward that constituted GW’s final lead of the game at 110-108. But the Rams answered with two consecutive 3-pointers of their own.
Freshman guard Jacoi Hutchinson fouled Medor while GW was down 114-111 with just 41 seconds remaining, allowing Fordham to expand its lead with another free throw. Subsequent fouls from Edwards netted Fordham 3 more free throws.
Though Bishop made a layup with 9 seconds remaining, it was too little, too late, and Fordham made the last score of the game with a free throw with 7 seconds remaining, ending at 119-113.
“I’m disappointed, but I definitely feel good about where we are,” Buchanan said after the game.
GW continues conference play at VCU on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
