Box Score Feb. 10, 2008
Final Stats
Bronx, N.Y. -
ESPN is running a college basketball "Rivalry Week" this week and the rivalry between Fordham and Rhode Island could easily fit the bill. The two Atlantic 10 Rams have battled through seven tight games over the past three years, with neither team winning by more than nine points and the average margin of victory being a slim 3.7 points per game.
Today, the Fordham defense rose to the challenge, holding Rhode Island, one of the Atlantic 10's highest scoring offenses, to 16 points under its average. But the Fordham offense came up just short, as a last second Bryant Dunston three-pointer fell short as Fordham fell to Rhode Island, 65-63, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the loss, Fordham's fourth straight, Fordham falls to 8-12 overall, 2-6 in the Atlantic 10, while Rhode Island improves to 20-4, 6-3 in the conference.
"We played good defense for the most part," said Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "Holding Rhode Island to 65 points should have been good enough to win at home, but we were stymied on offense and Rhode Island made the big plays when they had to."
Trailing by seven, 63-56, following a pair of Jimmy Baron free throws, with 37 seconds left, things looked gloomy for Fordham. But Marcus Stout connected on a thee-pointer, his fourth of the day, nine seconds later to make it a 63-59 game.
Fordham then stole the inbounds pass and Dunston converted that into a basket with 25 seconds left to cut the Fordham deficit to two, 63-61.
A pair of Baron free throws a second later put Rhode Island up by four, 65-61, but a Stout driving lay-up brought Fordham to within two, 65-63, with just over five seconds left.
After Rhode Island called a time out, the inbounds pass was knocked down by Fordham and Dunston collected the ball in front of the Fordham bench, getting off a three-pointer that was just short as time expired.
The Fordham defense held Baron, who entered the game with 79 three-pointers, without a point over the first 30 minutes before the junior guard connected on back-to-back three-pointers and then added a jumper in the lane to start a 10-0 Rhode Island run which turned a 42-33 deficit into a 43-42 lead with 7:13 remaining in the game.
A Sebastian Greene free throw with 6:46 left knotted the game at 43 and the game would be tied twice more over the next 1:20, the last time at 47 following a Dunston lay-up with 5:22 remaining.
A Parfait Bitee three-pointer 21 seconds later gave Rhode Island a 50-47 lead and a pair of Kahiem Seawright free throws made it a five-point game, 52-47, with 4:36 left.
Fordham responded with a 7-1 spurt, capped by a Brenton Butler three-pointer with 2:42 remaining to take a 54-53 lead. But Will Daniels, who finished with a team-high 18 points, got through for a lay-up 22 seconds later to put Rhode Island up for good, 55-54, and Rhode Island would hit five of six free throws over the next 1:30 to take the 63-56 lead with 37 seconds left.
Fordham jumped out to a 15- 6 lead over the first 5:22, led by six points from Stout, and built the lead to as many as 15, 23-8, on a Mike Moore lay-up with 8:38 left in the half.
Rhode Island then outscored Fordham 12-3 over the next 4:30 to cut the Fordham lead to six, 26-20, and would then cut it to four, 29-25, at the break.
Fordham opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to build the lead back to eight, 36-27, on a Stout three-pointer just over three minutes into the half and Fordham would get the lead up to nine at one point, 42-33, following a Butler three before Baron ignited the Rhode Island run.
Stout led the Rams with a game-high 19 points, while Dunston added 17 points, ten rebounds and four steals, notching his Atlantic-10 best eighth double-double.
Fordham will next be in action on Thursday night, February 14th as the Rams travel to Amherst, Massachusetts, to take on the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in an Atlantic 10 game in the Mullins Center at 9:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on ESPN2.
Notes
Rhode Island now leads the all-time series, 26-23...The game was Hall of Fame Day and Basketball Alumni Day as many former Rams were in attendance, including Damon Lopez '91, who was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony prior to the game...The Rams are now 3-6 in televised games this year...Dunston's 17 points brings his career total to 1,680, good for sixth place on the Fordham all-time list, 17 points behind Ken Charles...Dunston's ten rebounds brings his career total to 899, good for fifth place on the Fordham career rebounding list, 18 behind John Stevens...He had recorded double figures in rebounds in nine of the past ten games...Dunston also blocked two shots in the game and has blocked at least one shot in 19 of the 20 games this season, including 44 over the past 14 games...Dunston is averaging 16.2 ppg and 12.1 rpg over the past ten games...His four steals was a season-high...Stout's 19 points brings his career total to 1,567, good for seventh place on the all-time list...His four three-pointers in the game gives him 234 for his career, placing him second on the Fordham all-time list.
