Box Score Feb. 2, 2008
Final Stats
Philadephia, Pa. -
It was too good to last. After enduring a 34-game losing streak in the city of Philadelphia, the Fordham University Rams entered Saturday afternoon's game at Saint Joseph's riding a three-game winning streak in the city of Brotherly Love. But that winning streak came to a halt as the Hawks shot a blistering 63.6% from the field in the first half and withstood a Fordham second half comeback attempt to defeat the Rams, 70-55, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
With the loss, Fordham's third straight, the Rams fall to 8-11 overall on the year, 2-5 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's improves to 14-5 overall, 6-1 in the conference.
The Rams fell behind by as many as 21 in the first half before riding the hot shooting hand of Marcus Stout, who scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, to cut the deficit back to eight, 46-38, following a Stout three-pointer with 12:51 left in the game. But Tasheed Carr answered with a three-pointer for Saint Joseph's 20 seconds later to push the Hawks' lead back to double figures.
A Stout layup with 8:05 remaining made it a 12-point game, 57-45, but Saint Joseph's then went on a 9-3 run to take an 18-point lead, 66-48, following a Rob Ferguson free throw with 4:37 left and the closest the Rams would get from that point would be 15, 68-53, on a Sebastian Greene free throw with 39 seconds left.
Coming off one of their coldest shooting games of the year on Thursday when the Rams shot 31.0% from the field in a 58-50 loss to Temple, Fordham was hoping to come out hot from the field. But the Rams missed their first three shots in the opening minute as the Rams fell behind 4-0 on a pair of Ahmad Nivens baskets over the first two minutes of the game.
A Bryant Dunston three-point play cut the Hawks' lead to one, 4-3, 2:04 into the game and the Rams would again trail by one, 6-5, 30 seconds later after a Dunston dunk.
Another Dunston dunk with 14:05 left in the half cut the Saint Joseph's lead to four, 13-9. But the Fordham offense then went cold as the Hawks scored nine straight points to take a 22-9 lead with 11:46 before intermission.
Saint Joseph's built the lead to as many as 21, 39-18, following an Edwin Lashley three-pointer with 2:26 left before the Rams closed out the half with seven straight points, capped by a Greene buzzer-beating put back of a missed layup to trail by 14, 39-25, at the break.
Just under a minute into the second half, Stout connected on a three-pointer to make it an 11-point game, 39-28, before a Pat Calathes three-pointer got the lead back to 14, 42-28, for the Hawks 27 seconds later.
The Rams then used a 10-4 run, led by seven points from Stout, to make it an eight-point game, 46-38, following Stout's three-pointer with 12:51 left.
Stout led all scorers in the game with 19 points, 15 of those coming in the second half, while Dunston finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.
The Rams will next be in action on Sunday, February 10th as they host the other Atlantic 10 Rams, the University of Rhode Island, in the Rose Hill Gym at 12:00 p.m. on Hall of Fame Day.
Notes
Saint Joseph's now leads the all-time series, 23-16...The Rams are now 3-5 in televised games this year...Dunston's 18 points brings his career total to 1,663, good for sixth place on the Fordham all-time list, 34 points behind Ken Charles...Dunston's eight rebounds brings his career total to 889, good for fifth place on the Fordham career rebounding list, 28 behind John Stevens...He had his streak of double figures rebounding games stopped at eight...Dunston also blocked one shots in the game and has blocked at least one shot in 18 of the 19 games this season, including 42 over the past 13 games...Dunston is averaging 16.1 ppg and 12.3 rpg over the past nine games...Stout's 19 points brings his career total to 1,548, good for seventh place on the all-time list...His three three-pointers in the game gives him 230 for his career, placing him second on the Fordham all-time list.
