Nov. 5, 2009

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Bronx, N.Y. - One thing was certain to the fans in attendance at the Fordham men's basketball exhibition game on Thursday night. The 2009-10 squad is a different one from last year and the biggest difference looks to be freshman forward Chris Gaston. Gaston scored 27 points and added 17 rebounds, one of three newcomers to finish in double figures, to lead Fordham to a 97-43 win over Mercy College in the Rose Hill Gym.

Gaston was efficient, scoring the 27 points in just 25 minutes, shooting 12-of-17 from the field, while also adding three blocks and two steals. Three other Rams finished in double figures with Danny Thompson scoring 15, Alberto Estwick 13 and Khiry Gordon 12.

"We have so much more depth and better chemistry this year compared to last year," said head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "Mercy was a tough match-up for us since they are small and quick and we made some good adjustments. But we still have to grow as a team."

The Rams jumped out to an 11-0 lead just under four minutes into the game with Gaston scoring six of the eleven points, capping the opening run with a layup.

Mercy cut the Fordham lead back to seven, 13-6, on a Tyler Jones three-pointer with 14:52 remaining in the half and the Mustangs would trail by nine three times over the next four minutes, the final time at 21-12 on a Hassan Powell layup. Fordham then went on a 9-1 spurt, led by six points from Gaston, to take a 30-13 lead with 7:50 left in the period.

Danny Thompson

The Mustangs managed to get the deficit back to 14, 32-18, 1:30 later, but the Rams scored seven straight points to take a commanding 39-18 lead on an Estwick layup with 5:15 left.

Fordham would close out the final five minutes of the half outscoring Mercy 14-5 to take a 53-23 advantage at the intermission. Gaston led the Rams in the half with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

The Rams increased the lead to 39, 66-27, over the first seven minutes of the second half as Fordham opened the stanza with a 13-4 run, led by seven points from Gaston who capped the run with a three-point play. The closest the game would get from that point would be 34, 67-33, on a Tyler Jones layup with 10:34 left.

Jio Fontan added nine points and he dished out a game-high seven assists for the Rams, who shot 54.4% from the field (37-68) while holding Mercy to 26.9% (18-67).

Fordham will open the 2009-10 season on Friday night, November 13th, as they host the University of Maine in the Rose Hill Gym at 8:00 PM in a game that will follow a Fordham-Albany women's match-up which will start at 6:00 PM.