Box Score Jan. 11, 2009
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Bronx, N.Y. - For 25 minutes, especially the first five minutes of the second half, the Fordham University Rams gave nationally ranked Xavier University all they could handle. The Rams cut a 15-point halftime deficit to just one, 49-48, with 15:25 left but the scare seemed to wake up the Musketeers, who outscored the Rams 37-12 the rest of the way, as Xavier upended Fordham, 86-60, in an Atlantic 10 contest in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-12 overall, 0-2 in the Atlantic 10, while Xavier improves to 13-2 overall, 2-0 in the conference.
"I wish we could have stopped the game after the first 25 minutes and gone home," said Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "Xavier is a great team and they showed you why over the last 15 minutes. That the time we could have used the experience of a Brenton Butler."
The loss overshadowed a tremendous effort by two Fordham freshmen as Alberto Estwick scored a game-high 20 point, shooting 6-for-10 from behind the arc, while Jio Fontan recorded his first collegiate double-double, netting ten points and adding eleven assists. The eleven assists are the most for a Ram since Jay Fazande handed out 12 against St. John's in 1992.
The Rams trailed by 15 at the break, 45-30, as B.J. Raymond scored eleven of his team-high 18 in the half. But the Rams came out hot in the second half, outscoring the Musketeers 18-4 over the first 4:35 to pull to within one, 49-48, on a Mike Moore three-pointer.
Moore got the run started with a free throw 22 seconds into the half, before Derrick Brown answered with a layup seven seconds later to give Xavier a 47-31 lead. Estwick then hit the first of three three-pointers in the run with 18:50 remaining and a Jacob Green free throw 27 seconds later cut the Fordham deficit to nine, 47-38.
After a pair of Jason Love charity shots upped the Musketeer lead to eleven, 49-38, with just over 18 minutes left in the game, Estwick nailed a trifecta and Green converted two passes from Fontan into baskets to make it a four-point game, 49-45, with 15:55 remaining.
Fontan then found an open Moore on the right side and Moore hit a three-pointer to pull the Rams to within one, 49-48, with 15:25 left.
The Xavier offense then woke up while the Fordham offense went cold as the Musketeers scored ten straight points, five from Raymond, to regain a double digit lead, 59-48, following a Brad Redford trey with 12:50 remaining. The Rams cut it back to eight, 59-51, on a Zach Wing layup and a Fontan free throw over the next 16 seconds but Xavier scored eleven consecutive points to take a commanding 72-51 lead with seven minutes left.
Fordham held its own over the first few minutes, knotting the contest at seven on a Luke Devine layup 2:38 into the game. A Raymond jumper and three-pointer gave the Musketeers a five-point lead, 12-7, 1:30 later, but the Rams would get the Xavier advantage down to two, 13-11, following a pair of Chris Bethel free throws with 14:34 left in the half.
Xavier boosted the lead to as many as nine, 26-17, when the Rams netted five straight on a pair of Fontan free throws and a Trey Blue three-pointer to pull to within four, 26-22, 6:30 before the break.
But the Musketeers outscored the Rams 19-8 over the finals six minutes of the first half to take the 45-30 halftime lead.
Green finished with seven points and five blocks for the Rams while Bethel added seven points and three rebounds.
Fordham will next be in action on Wednesday, January 14th, as the Rams travel to Dayton, Ohio, to face the University of Dayton Flyers in an Atlantic 10 game in the UD Arena at 7:30 p.m.
Notes
The Musketeers have now won five straight against the Rams and lead the all-time series, 17-3...The two teams will meet again on February 14th in Cincinnati...The Rams are now 184-177 all-time against other Jesuit schools...The game was one of more than 90 games this season between teams from the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities across the United States...Fordham has now dropped 46 straight against ranked opponents...Estwick's previous season-high was 14 points against UT Martin...Green's five blocks is a career-high, besting the four he had in the last game with St. Bonaventure...He has a team-high 16 blocks in six games...Butler missed his seventh straight game with an ankle injury.
