Box Score Nov. 29, 2009
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Bronx, N.Y. -
When Manhattan's Antoine Pearson banked home a 35-foot desperation three-pointer at the halftime buzzer, the Fordham Rams should have known it wasn't going to be their night. The shot gave the Jaspers a 39-18 halftime lead as Manhattan went on to a 68-44 win over the Rams in the Draddy Gym in the 102nd edition of the Battle of the Bronx.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 1-4 on the year while Manhattan improves to 4-2.
Manhattan shot 57% from the field in the first half (16-28) while Fordham could only manage to connect on five of its 25 shots in the half. The Rams also where just 8-for-16 from the free throw stripe in the game, 18-of-36 for the game, and committed 12 first half turnovers which Manhattan converted into 13 points.
"Nothing went our way tonight," said Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "When your top two scorers struggle it's going to be a long night. It was just not a good performance for us tonight."
Darryl Crawford opened the night's scoring with a three-point play 1:50 into the game but Alberto Estwick answered with a lay-up to cut the Fordham deficit to one, 3-2, eight seconds later.
The Jaspers then scored eight straight points over the next two minutes to take an 11-2 lead on a Pearson jumper with 16:15 left in the period.
A Chris Gaston put-back and a Jio Fontan lay-up, which was set up by a Gaston steal, cut the Manhattan lead back to five, 11-6, with 14:07 remaining in the half. But the Jaspers used a 10-2 run to build the lead to 13, 21-8, following a Rico Pickett steal and dunk.
Manhattan would get the lead to 18, 30-12, with 4:55 left in the half before the Rams scored five unanswered points, three from Gaston, to make it a 30-17 game with 3:31 remaining in the half. But the Jaspers closed out the period with nine straight points, capped by Pearson's buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Manhattan increased the lead to 23 on an Andrew Gabriel lay-up 50 seconds into the second half and the Jaspers would lead by 23 again later in the period, 46-23, when the Rams went on a 7-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 16, 46-30, with 10:24 left. But that was as close as Fordham would get.
Gaston led all Fordham scorers with 15 points and he also pulled down 16 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the year, while Jio Fontan added nine points.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday, December 5th, as they host the Bowling Green State University Falcons in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Manhattan now leads the all-time series, 53-49, and has won two straight...The 44 points is the fewest points scored by Fordham in the series since February 28, 1985 when the Rams defeated the Japers, 44-42...Fordham out rebounded Manhattan, 42-36, in the game...Manhattan's hot shooting in the first half almost didn't end at the halftime buzzer as a Manhattan fan who participated in the half-court shot as part of the halftime promotions bounced one off the rim.
