Box Score March 5, 2008
Final Stats
RICHMOND, Va. - For the first 24 minutes, things looked good for the Fordham Rams against the University of Richmond. Fordham held a 29-21 lead at the break, hitting six three-pointers while holding the Spider to shooting 30.8% in the half, and then extended the lead to 11 three times over the first our minutes of the second half, the last at 40-29 following a Kevin Anderson lay-up.
But then things went bad for the Rams, who were held to six points and one field goal over a 12 minute stretch in the second half allowing Richmond to mount a comeback and pull out a 58-53 Atlantic 10 win over Fordham in the Robins Center.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 11-16 overall, 5-10 in the Atlantic 10, while Richmond improves to 16-12 overall, 9-6 in the conference. The loss also puts Fordham a half game behind George Washington for the 12th and final spot in the 2008 Atlantic 10 Championship. The Rams have to hope for a Colonials loss over their final two games (at Charlotte Thursday night and home to Massachusetts on Saturday) and a win on Saturday for the Rams to advance to the tournament.
The Spiders game plan was simple. Keep the ball out of the hands of Bryant Dunston, who entered the game as Fordham's leading scorer, averaging 15.8 ppg. Dunston got off just five shots in the game and was limited to nine points. He attempted just one field goal in the first half but the Rams compensated by hitting six of their ten three-point attempts in the period, four of those from Brenton Butler.
Dunston got a few more looks at the basket in the second half, converting three of his four field goal attempts, but the outside shooting went cold for the Rams, who missed all ten of their three-point attempts in the stanza.
Fordham built the 29-21 halftime lead thanks to Butler, who scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the half.
A Dunston three-point play 30 seconds into the second half increased the Fordham lead to 11, 23-21, before a pair of Richmond baskets cut the Rams' lead to seven, 32-25, a minute later.
A Marcus Stout lay-up and a pair of Butler free throws got the Fordham lead back to 11, 36-25, with 17:53 remaining and the Rams would again lead by 11, 38-27, following a Kevin Anderson lay-up two minutes later.
Dunston answered a Kevin Anderson three-pointer for Richmond with a dunk with 14 minutes left to make it a ten-point game, 42-32, before the Fordham offense went cold. Richmond scored five straight points to cut the deficit to five, 42-37, on a Kevin Anderson jumper with 11:36 remaining.
Two minutes later, Fordham's Kevin Anderson scored on a lay-up to stop the Richmond streak and give Fordham a seven-point lead but Oumar Sylla answered with a three-pointer for the Spiders 30 seconds later to make it a four-point game, 44-40.
A pair of Butler free throws with 8:18 left boosted the Fordham lead back to six, 46-40, but Richmond would score the next nine points, capped by a David Gonzalvez lay-up that put the Spiders up three, 49-46, with 4:06 remaining.
Kevin Anderson hit one of two free throws for the Rams to cut the Fordham deficit back to two, 49-47, two minutes later, but that was as close as the Rams would get as Richmond hit seven of its eight free throws over the final 26 seconds to hold on for the win.
Neither team was able to muster much offense in the first half, with Richmond jumping out to an 8-5 lead five minutes into the game. The Rams then netted nine straight points, capped by a Butler three-pointer, as Fordham took a 14-8 lead with 12:21 left in the period and the Rams would build the lead to as many as nine, 26-17, before taking the 29-21 lead at the break.
Dunston finished with nine points and seven rebounds for the Rams while Stout added eight points and Sebastian Greene added six points and a game-high ten rebounds.
The Rams will close out the 2008 regular season on Saturday, March 8th as they host the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in the Rose Hill Gym at 1:00 p.m. for Senior Day. The five Fordham seniors will be honored in a special pre-game ceremony.
Notes
The Richmond win breaks a five-game Fordham winning streak against Richmond...The Rams still lead the all-time series, 7-6...Fordham outrebounded Richmond in the game, 33-27...The Rams fall to 1-8 when scoring under 59 points this season...The game was a match-up between Fordham's Kevin Anderson, a senior guard, and Richmond's Kevin Anderson, a freshman guard, with each player wearing jersey number 14...Dunston saw his consecutive double-double streak stopped at six games...His nine points brings his all-time total to 1,805, good for second on the Fordham all-time scoring list while his seven rebounds brings his career rebounding total to 977, good for third place on the all-time rebounding list...Dunston also recorded one blocked shot in the game to bring his Fordham career-record total to 289...Stout's eight points brings his career total to 1,675 good for seventh place on the all-time list.
