Box Score It was a numbers game for the Fordham Ram in their season opener at Duquesne. Despite holding the Dukes under their Atlantic 10-leading scoring average of 88.2 ppg and holding Duquesne to shooting 42.1% on the night, the Rams didn't have an answer for the number of players the Dukes had coming in off the bench. And despite double-doubles from both
Sebastian Greene and
Bryant Dunston, it wasn't enough as the Rams dropped their Atlantic 10 opener to Duquesne, 74-62, in the A.J. Palumbo Center.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 6-7 overall while Duquesne improves to 11-3.
Duquesne used eight players with all eight playing double figure minutes, but none more than 31, and each player hitting at least one field goal while the Rams had five players play 32 minutes or more with only four scoring at least one field goal.
The loss overshadowed double-doubles from Greene and Dunston as Greene led the Rams with 20 points, tying his career-high, while grabbing ten rebounds and Dunston turned in his third straight double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds while also tying a career-high with eight blocks. The eight blocks brings Dunston's career total to 255, placing him three shy of tying Damon Lopez, who swatted 258 shots from 1989-91, as Fordham's all-time career leader.
The game started out slowly, with the Dukes leading 7-5 after an Aaron Jackson lay-up 4:30 into the game. Duquesne then used an 11-2 run to build the lead to 11, 18-7, midway through the first half. Jackson scored four of the 11 Duquesne points in the run.
The two teams would trade baskets over the next five minutes, with the Fordham deficit rotating between nine and eleven points, until the Rams scored six straight to trim the Duquesne lead back to five, 26-21, on a Greene dunk with 4:40 remaining in the half.
But the Dukes closed out the half with a 14-5 run; including a Jackson put-back at the buzzer to take a 40-26 lead at the break.
Fordham opened the second half by scaling the Duquesne lead back to nine, 44-35, as the Rams opened the period with a 9-4 spurt. The run was capped by a Brenton Butler three-pointer 4:47 into the half, one of three three-pointers on the night for Butler.
The Dukes responded with seven unanswered points to increase their lead to 16, 51-35, with 12:45 left and Duquesne led by 16 again 2:30 later, when two Dunston baskets pulled the Rams to within 12, 55-43, with 9:24 remaining.
Duquesne responded with a 13-4 run to take its biggest lead of the night, 68-47, on a pair of Jackson free throws with 4:55 left in the game.
The Rams were able to close out the final 2:38 of the game with eight straight points, six of those from Butler on a pair of three-pointers, to account for the 74-62 final.
Butler added 17 points and four rebounds for the Rams while Kevin Anderson dished out a game and season-high eight assists.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday, January 12th as they move on to Cincinnati to take on the 24th-ranked Xavier University Musketeers at 12:00 PM in a game that will be broadcast on a delayed basis on SportsNet NY beginning at 8:00 PM.
Notes
Final Stats
The loss breaks a five-game winning streak in Fordham's all-time series with Duquesne...The Dukes now lead the all-time series, 14-11...Fordham is now 2-11 all-time in Atlantic 10 openers...Greene's tied his career-high of 20 points which he first accomplished against Iona on December 3, 2006...Dunston's double-double was the 29th of his career...Dunston tied his career-high with the eight blocks, a feat he first accomplished last year against Rhode Island...The 19 points brings Dunston's career total to 1,581, good for sixth place on the Fordham all-time list, 116 points behind Ken Charles...Dunston's 11 rebounds brings his career total to 820, good for fifth place on the Fordham career rebounding list...Dunston has blocked at least one shot in 12 of the 13 games this season, including 29 over the past seven games...Dunston is now averaging 17.6 ppg and 7.9 rpg in seven career games against Duquesne...Marcus Stout netted four points in the game to bring his career total to 1,449, good for seventh place on the all-time list.
