Box Score Jan. 7, 2009
Box Score |
Photo Gallery 
Bronx, N.Y. - The sign of a young team is resiliency. And the 2008-09 Fordham men's basketball team displayed their youth tonight, battling back after falling behind by as many as 17 points to pull to within five, but the Rams couldn't complete the comeback, dropping a 78-65 decision to St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-11, 0-1 in the Atlantic 10, while St. Bonaventure improves to 10-4, 1-0 in the conference.
"It was a tale of two halves," said Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "It's hard to win when you shoot 7-for-33 in the first half like we did. We made a comeback attempt there in the second half which is encouraging. And Jio Fontan and Zach Wing played their brains out for us. I can't say enough about Zach's effort and toughness tonight."
Fordham was down 17, 61-44, following a Malcolm Eleby layup with 6:27 remaining when the Rams went on a 19-7 run to pull to within five, 68-63, on a Jio Fontan three-pointer with 1:38 left. Fontan, who scored 11 of the 19 Fordham points in the run, started the offensive charge with a three-pointer and then, after a D'Lancy Carter basket for the Bonnies, connected on a pair of free throws to make it a 63-49 game with 5:16 remaining.
A Fontan free throw and Mike Moore layup over the next 28 seconds pulled the Rams to within 11, 63-52, before a Maurice Thomas jumper and a Jonathan Hall layup bumped the lead back to 15 for St. Bonaventure, 67-52.
The Rams scored seven straight points over the next minute, four of those from Moore, to make it a 67-59 game with 2:43 left. Alberto Estwick matched a Hall free throw with one of his own and then Fontan hit the trifecta with 1:38 remaining to get the Bonnies lead down to five, 68-63.
But rebounding woes caught up with the Rams as Hall hit the front end of a one-and-one with 1:21 left for St. Bonaventure and missed the second, but Michael Davenport grabbed the rebound for the Bonnies. Fordham fouled Hall again, who missed both free throws with 1:16 remaining, but Davenport again swooped in and grabbed the rebound of the second miss, allowing St. Bonaventure to hold on to the ball. Chris Matthews then connected on two free throws to put St. Bonaventure up eight, 71-63, with 1:09 remaining before Chris Bethel answered for the Rams to cut the deficit to six, 71-65, 14 seconds later.
Fordham then fouled Eleby, who hit the first of his two charity shots, but the Bonnies again got the rebound and then hit four straight free throws to ice the game.
The Rams jumped out to an 8-4 lead on baskets by Moore, Bethel, Fontan, and Jacob Green over the first 2:21 of the contest before the Bonnies used an 11-3 spurt to take a 15-11 lead on a Davenport free throw midway through the first.
A Moore three-pointer pulled the Rams to within one, 15-14, with just over nine minutes left in the half before St. Bonaventure used a 13-4 run to take its biggest lead of the half, 28-18, and the Bonnies would take a 34-25 lead at the break.
Fordham cut the deficit to seven three times over the first eight minutes of the second half, the final time at 49-42, on a Moore three-pointer with 11:53 left. But the Ram offense then went cold as St. Bonaventure took the 17-point lead, 61-44, with 6:27 remaining.
Fontan led all scorers with 22 points, tying his season-high, and he added five rebound, four assists and two steals while Moore finished with 17 points and nine rebounds and Bethel added 11 points and nine boards. Green chipped in with five points and a season-high four blocks.
The Rams will next be in action on Sunday afternoon, January 11th, as they host the #16/18 Xavier University Musketeers in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym at 1:00 p.m.
Notes
The loss snaps a seven-game winning streak for the Rams against St. Bonaventure...The Bonnies now lead the all-time series, 14-13...The two teams will meet again on January 28th in St. Bonaventure...The four blocks for Green are a season-high for a Ram...Green now has a team-high 11 blocks in five games, seven over the past two games...Zach Wing played a season-high 18 minutes, scoring one basket and adding two rebounds...The Bonnies attempted 45 free throws to 32 for the Rams...Fordham recorded a season-high 12 steals and tied a season-best with six blocks and 37 rebounds...Junior guard Brenton Butler missed his sixth straight game with an ankle injury...Fordham is now 2-12 all-time in Atlantic 10 openers.
