Box Score Dec. 19, 2009
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East Rutherford, N.J. - For the first 23 minutes the young Fordham men's basketball squad gave nationally ranked Villanova University all it could handle. But the inexperienced Rams learned that when playing a top-ten program, 23 minutes isn't enough as the Wildcats closed out the game with a 28-8 run to hand Fordham a 96-58 loss at the IZOD Center in the first IZOD Invitational.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 2-7 on the year while Villanova, who entered the game ranked eighth in the latest Associated Press poll and ninth in the ESPN poll, improved to 10-1.
"We hung in there for the first 23 minutes or so but then couldn't score," said Fordham head coach Jared Grasso. "They're too good of a team to have that kind of drought against. That's why they went to the Final Four last year and are a top-ten team this year."
The Rams trailed by nine at the break, 46-37, thanks to a 40-foot, buzzer-beating three-pointer from Alberto Estwick. Villanova bumped the lead up to 12, 49-37, on a Corey Fisher three-pointer 22 seconds into the second half before Fordham responded with a Chris Gaston jumper and an Estwick three-pointer over the next minute to cut the deficit back to seven, 49-42.
The Wildcats built the lead to 15, 57-42, with eight straight points before back-to-back Lance Brown jumpers made it an 11-point game, 57-46, with 15:51 left.
The Fordham offense went cold after that as Villanova used a 9-2 spurt to build a 20-point lead, 68-48, with 11:30 remaining on a Corey Stokes three-pointer before Brenton Butler answered for the Rams to make it an 18-point game a minute later. But that was as close as the Rams would get as the high-powered Villanova offense closed the game outscoring Fordham 28-8 for the 96-58 final.
"I wasn't disappointed with our effort over the final 17 minute but we just didn't make any shoots," said Grasso. "But that what happens sometimes with a young team. At times we had four freshmen on the court. This is a good experience for them and it should make us a better team in the Atlantic 10."
The game started out well for the Rams as Fordham scored the first four points of the contest on a Butler jumper 30 seconds into the game and a
Jacob Green jumper a minute later.
The Wildcats used a 10-2 run to take a 10-6 lead on a Fisher three-pointer with 15:10 remaining in the half but the Rams came back with a 7-2 spurt to go up 13-12 after a Danny Thompson trifecta two minutes later.
That would be the final lead for Fordham as Villanova used a 14-4 run to turn a 17-15 lead into a 31-19 advantage with 7:18 left in the period. Scottie Reynolds led the Wildcat run with five points.
Villanova built the lead to as many as 18 in the first half, 44-26, with 2:55 remaining but the Rams closed out the period outscoring the Wildcats, 11-2, including the Estwick buzzer-beater, to cut the deficit to nine at the break, 46-37.
Gaston led the Rams with 12 points and he added four rebounds while Brown finished with 11 points and a season-high nine rebounds. Butler and Estwick also netted double figures with each scoring ten points.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, December 23rd, as they travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to face the James Madison University Dukes at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The game was Fordham's 22nd appearance at the IZOD Center (the arena was formerly known as The Brendan Byrne Arena and the Continental Airlines Arena)...The Rams are now 11-11 all-time at the facility...Villanova now leads the all-time series, 13-8, and the Wildcats have won the past six meetings...Gaston had a streak of six straight double-doubles snapped in the game...It was the longest streak since Bryant Dunston recorded six straight in 2007-08...Brown's previous season-high in rebounds was eight, set last Sunday at St. John's...Brown is averaging 11.0 ppg and 7.3 rpg over the past four games...Fordham shot a season-best 93.3% (14-15) from the free throw stripe...Villanova outrebounded the Rams 46-30 on the day...The Rams have now lost 48 games against ranked teams...Former WFUV announcer and 2009 Fordham graduate Ryan Ruocco handled the play-by-play duties for the YES Network.
