[Video highlights and rockin’ soundtrack courtesy of Fordham University.]

Fordham University pulled off a stunning college basketball upset of Harvard, the 21st ranked team in the country last night in the Bronx — the first time since 1978 the Rams have toppled a top-25 opponent. They had lost 54 straight games to ranked teams.

After suffering a humiliating 81-47 thrashing at the hands of cross-Bronx rivals Manhattan College and then getting routed by Siena, the Rams have turned their season around. They showed fight in losing by just six to St. John’s, an NCAA tournament team last year, in Madison Square Garden, then came back and beat Texas St. handily at home. Last Thursday at Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx, they beat Georgia Tech, one of the top programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference if not the country (although they’re down a little this year).

And now, a win over nationally-ranked Harvard, which has turned into an Ivy League hoops powerhouse over the past few seasons under former Michigan head coach Tommy Amacker.

The turnaround is remarkable considering the Rams won a grand total of nine games over the past two years.

The team’s momentum is spreading to the Fordham faithful. Tom Pecora, in his second year as Fordham’s head coach, said fans inside Rose Hill energized the team and created a frenzied atmosphere.

“This place is a pit,” Pecora told reporters. “It can be for us what Cameron is for Duke.” (Duke, one of the elite team’s in the country, calls it’s notoriously raucous fans at Cameron Field House the “Cameron Crazies.”)

As we’ve mentioned here before, Fordham is putting a lot of resources into marketing it’s basketball program, including an advertisement campaign in the NY Times. Now, the team is beginning to garner recognition for it’s play. They’re still the second best team in the borough (behind Manhattan), but they’ve gone from laughing stock to resurgent giant killer over the past two weeks, generating tremendous momentum going into a tough Atlantic 10 conference schedule, which starts Thursday.

Below is video from the post-game press conference with Pecora and star forward Chris Gaston, who called the win over Harvard a “dream come true.”