Queens and The Bronx had been part of New York City for just over a decade when St. John’s and Fordham met on a basketball court for the first time.
Despite playing 86 more times since that 1909 encounter, the schools, which are separated by 15 miles, hardly could be considered true rivals. St. John’s has dominated the all-time series, holding a 65-22 edge, which includes wins for the Johnnies in 25 of the past 28 games.
But last year was different, perhaps sparking what has been absent during so many of the interborough battles.
The series returns to Carnesecca Arena on Thursday night, with St. John’s trying to avenge a 73-57 loss to the Rams at Rose Hill Gym last season, a one-sided affair that ended with first-year coaches Chris Mullin and Jeff Neubauer exchanging words.
While Fordham featured an experienced squad last season, the Red Storm were in the first stages of rebuilding with several freshmen seeing major minutes, and sources said Mullin was unhappy with Neubauer’s decision to leave his starters in the game in the final minutes and maintain heavy defensive pressure with the outcome already decided.
The Red Storm (4-5) enter this meeting with two straight wins, while Fordham (5-4) is on a three-game losing streak, but the timing of the matchup helps the Rams.
While Fordham is expected to have reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Joseph Chartouny — who ranks second in the nation in steals (3.6) and is tied for 11th in assists (6.6) — back after he missed most of the past two games with an arm injury, St. John’s likely will be without leading scorer Marcus LoVett, who didn’t practice Wednesday and watched Monday’s win over Cal State Northridge with a walking boot on his sprained right ankle. LoVett is considered day-to-day.