Box Score Dec. 29, 2008
Final Stats
MIAMI, Fla. - The Fordham Rams just can't catch a break in Florida. Last night, the Rams were done in by a player that declared for the 2008 NBA draft only to withdraw his name 30 minutes before the deadline. Today, the Rams had the displeasure of running into Florida International's Alex Galindo, a player who was making his 2008-09 debut after missing the first 14 games with an injury. Galindo made up for his lost time against Fordham, netting a game-high 19 points to lead the Golden Panthers to a 63-55 win over the Rams in the final game of the FIU Holiday Tournament in the U.S. Century Bank Arena.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-9 on the year while Florida International, who broke a six-game losing streak, improves to 5-10.
The Rams, trailing by 20 with 48 seconds left, experienced a last second scoring flurry, netting 11 points over the final 45 seconds to get to within eight, but that was as close as they could manage.
Both teams started out cold, with neither shooting over 30% from the field in the first half and each team struggling to score. Fordham took a 9-8 lead on a Mike Moore three-point play midway through the first half and a Chris Bethel jumper gave the Rams an 11-8 lead with 9:19 remaining but a pair of FIU baskets put the Golden Panthers up one, 12-11, with 6:58 left in the half.
Alberto Estwick answered seven seconds later with a three-pointer for the Rams and a Moore jumper with six minutes remaining gave Fordham its biggest lead of the day, 16-12.
Unfortunately the Fordham offense then got cold as FIU outscored the Rams 13-3 over the final 5:25 to take a 25-19 lead at the intermission.
The Golden Panthers increased the lead to nine early in the second half before an Estwick three-pointer pulled the Rams to within six, 32-26, 3:21 into the second half. But Marlon Bright and Michael Dominguez hit back-to-back three-pointers over the next four minutes to increase the FIU lead to 12, 38-26, and the Golden Panthers would get the lead up to as many as 21, 61-40, with 1:43 remaining.
Trailing by 20, 63-43, with 48 seconds left Trey Blue hit a free throw to start a string of 12 straight Fordham points over the final 48 seconds. After Blue's free throw, Bethel stole the inbounds pass and fed Blue for a layup with 45 seconds remaining.
Blue then stole the ball in the backcourt and converted a layup with 36 seconds left to make it a 63-48 game. Ten seconds later, Blue connected on a free throw and a Bethel layup and free throw six seconds later cut the Fordham deficit to 12, 63-52. Blue then closed out the game with a three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining to make it a 63-55 final.
Blue led the Rams with 18 points, shooting 4-for-8 from behind the arc, while Estwick and Moore each added nine points.
Fordham will next be in action on Saturday afternoon, January 3rd, as the Rams travel to Bowling Green, Ohio, to face Bowling Green State University at 2:00 p.m.
b>Notes
Despite the warm south Florida temperature, the Rams shot an ice-cold 26.9% (7-26) in the first half and 32.8% (19-58) for the contest....Florida International now leads the all-time series, 4-1...This was the first meeting between the two schools since 1998...The Rams are now 7-14 when playing in the state of Florida...The Rams have dropped their last seven games in the Sunshine State...Moore had his streak of double figure scoring games snapped at five while Jio Fontan, who was held scoreless in the first half, had his string of double figure scoring games stopped at four...Bethel recorded a career-high four steals for the Rams...Brenton Butler missed his fourth straight game with an ankle injury.
