Box Score Jan. 28, 2009
Final Stats
OLEAN, N.Y. -- St. Bonaventure University's Reilly Center. It's one of the toughest places to play in the Atlantic 10. Between the long bus ride to get there, the inclement weather conditions and the rowdy Bonnie fans, not many visiting teams have been able to put together a winning streak at the Reilly Center. But apparently Fordham University didn't get the memo as the Rams entered Wednesday night's game having won three straight on the Bonnies home court. Well now you can make it four as Trey Blue's reverse layup with just under a minute left broke a 65-65 tie and led the Rams to a 67-65 Atlantic 10 win.
With the win, the Rams improve to 3-15 overall, 1-5 in the Atlantic 10, while St. Bonaventure falls to 11-9 overall, 2-5 in the conference.
"This is a gutsy win for my guys," said Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "When I look out on the court and see three or four freshmen, a sophomore and a walk-on, you've got to be impressed with their play tonight."
Blue was one of those freshmen, along with classmate Jio Fontan, who led all scorers on the night with a season-high 25 points.
The game would be a streak stopper for one of the two teams as Fordham entered the contest losers of eight straight while St. Bonaventure had lost eight straight Atlantic 10 games at home.
Fordham held a 34-27 halftime lead but the Bonnies quickly tied the game early in the second half, opening the period with an 11-4 spurt to knot the game at 38 on a Jonathan Hall layup just over four minutes into the half.
Later in the half, the Rams used an 8-4 run to turn a one-point lead into a five-point advantage, 52-47, on a Trey Blue layup with 9:47 remaining. But the Fordham offense then went cold, allowing St. Bonaventure to score ten unanswered point as the Bonnies took a 57-52 lead following D'Lancy Carter layup three minutes later.
But the Rams wouldn't go away, using Chris Bethel and Fontan layups to pull to within one, 57-56, with 5:42 left.
A Chris Matthews three-pointer quickly got the St. Bonaventure lead back to four and the Bonnies would lead again by four, 64-60, with just under four minutes remaining. A Fontan jumper was answered with a single Carter free throw making it a 65-62 game with three minutes left.
Blue tied the game at 65 with a three-pointer from the left side 23 seconds later and both team had chances to break the tie over the next 1:41 before Blue's layup gave the Rams the lead for good.
The Rams had two chances to increase the lead in the final 32 seconds but Bethel and Zach Wing each missed the front end of a one-and-one. Wing's missed came with 4.4 seconds left and a three-pointer from the Bonnies Malcolm Eleby hit off the backboard as time expired.
Fordham opened the game with a 15-6 lead seven minutes into the contest as Fontan scored seven of his eleven first half points in the opening run. The Bonnies responded with an 11-1 spurt to take a 17-16 lead midway through the half and St. Bonaventure would lead by four, 22-18, with six minutes remaining.
Three straight Bethel baskets over the next 1:10 put the Rams up two, 24-22, and a Zach Wing layup 21 seconds later made it a four-point game. A Fontan jumper with 2:15 remaining put the Rams up six, 30-24, before the Bonnies cut the lead in half on a Matthews three-pointer six seconds later. Fontan answered with a jumper with just over a minute left and Blue gave the Rams the seven-point halftime advantage when he inbounded the ball off the back of a St. Bonaventure defender under the basket and laid the ball in with three seconds left.
Fontan added four assists to go with his 25 points while Bethel finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and a career-high four rebounds. Blue also netted double figures with 12 points.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday night, January 31st, as they host the Saint Louis University Billikens in the Rose Hill Gym in an Atlantic 10 matchup at 7:00 p.m.
