Box Score
Box Score
March 12, 2008
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - It wasn't the way they wanted it to end but it ended nevertheless. The college basketball careers of five Fordham seniors; Kevin Anderson, Michael Binns, Bryant Dunston, Sebastian Greene and Marcus Stout came to and end with the Rams' 80-62 loss to Saint Joseph's in the first round of the 2008 Atlantic 10 Championship. Though the ending was not how they planned it, now it's time for the five to look back and realize what they have accomplished as members of the Fordham University basketball program and how they leave a program in much better shape than the one they inherited.
When the five seniors arrived as freshman in 2004, Fordham was just one year removed from a 2-26 season, and were ushered in as head coach Dereck Whittenburg's first full recruiting class. And they hit the ground running, helping the Rams improve from 6-22 in Whittenburg's first year at the helm to 13-16 in 2004-05 with Dunston earning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year honors.
The following winter, the Rams really took off, finishing 16-16, 9-7 in the conference, advancing to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Championships. Last year, Fordham notched an 18-12 record with a 10-6 conference mark as Fordham finished the regular season tied for fourth.
"This group of seniors restored a lot of pride to the Fordham men's basketball program," said Whittenburg. "We asked them to do a lot and even though we didn't accomplish what we set out to do this year, I'm really proud of these guys for how far they've taken the program."
The Saint Josephs game was a microcosm of the 2007-08 season for the Rams as the Hawks were hot from behind the arc, hitting seven three-pointers - five in the first half, and the Rams couldn't find their offense, scoring just 25 first half points.
The first eleven minutes were relatively close, with Fordham trailing 19-16, following a Binns jumper with 8:52 left in the half. But the Hawks then got hot from the outside, hitting four three-pointers in a 21-3 run as the Hawks built a 40-19 lead following a Tasheed Carr lay-up with 3:13 remaining.
"We gave up too many easy baskets," said Whittenburg. "They took advantage of our turnovers and once they had that run we couldn't make shots that would get us back into the game."
The Rams would get the Hawks' lead down to 17 twice over the final 1:30 of the half, the last coming at 42-25 on a Stout jumper, but a Pat Calathes basket with eight seconds left in the period gave Saint Joseph's a 44-25 lead at the break.
The Hawks came out just as hot in the second half, opening the half with a 12-4 spurt to take a commanding 56-29 lead on a Calathes three-pointer with 15:52 left.
Saint Joseph's would build the lead to as many as 29 twice in the second half, the last at 74-45 on an Ahmad Nivins jumper with 6:04 left.
The Rams used a 9-1 run late in the game to turn a 77-53 deficit into a 78-62 shortfall on a pair of Dunston free throws with just over a minute left but that was as close as they would get.
Dunston led the Rams with 17 points while he also grabbed five rebounds and blocked three shots. Binns added 15 points and seven rebounds for Fordham while Stout also scored in double figures with 13 points and he dished out five assists.
Notes
The loss is Fordham's first in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championships since 2004...The Rams are now 4-13 all-time at the Atlantic 10 Championship...The 62 points are the most points scored by the Rams against Saint Joseph's since an 84-62 loss in February 8, 2003 (seven games)...Every Ram who dressed appeared in the game... Dan Landisch grabbed a career-best six rebounds and he added a block in four minutes...The 15 points and seven rebounds by Binns were both season-highs and the 15 points was just one shy of his career-best of 16 recorded against Temple last year...Dunston closes out his career with 1,832 points, second best on the all-time list, 993 rebounds, fourth best all-time and a school-record 294 blocks...Stout's 13 points brings his career total to 1,709, moving him ahead of Ken Charles and into sixth place on the all-time scoring list.
