Box Score Feb. 14, 2009
Final Stats
Cincinnati, Ohio-- The NCAA moved the men's three-point line back one foot prior to the season to try and make it a little more difficult for teams to connect on the shot. The Fordham Rams wished they had moved it back a little further. Xavier was on fire from behind the arc today as the 14th-ranked Musketeers hit 14 of their 27 three-point shots en route to an 88-53 Atlantic 10 win over Fordham in the Cintas Center.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 3-19 overall, 1-9 in the Atlantic 10, while Xavier improves to 21-4 overall, 9-2 in the conference.
Mike Moore paced the Rams with his first career double-double, scoring a game-high 24 points and grabbing a game-best ten rebounds, both career-highs.
The undermanned Rams, who dressed just seven scholarship and ten total players for the game, gave the Musketeers all they could handle over the first 12 minutes, trailing by just two, 24-22, following a Jio Fontan layup with 7:51. But Xavier pulled away over the first five minutes of the second half, opening a commanding 28-point lead, 61-33, with 15:28 left.
The Rams opened the game with a 4-0 lead, thanks to a pair of Moore baskets over the first two minutes. After a Dante Jackson three-pointer cut the Xavier deficit back to one, a Moore free throw put Fordham up two, 5-3, three minutes into the game.
A 10-2 Musketeer run over the next three minutes helped Xavier take a 13-7 lead following a Brad Redford three-pointer with 13:57 left in the half. But Herb Tanner and Fontan connected on back-to-back three pointers for the Rams and a Tanner layup with 12:07 remaining capped a 6-0 Fordham spurt and gave the Rams a 15-13 lead.
A B.J. Raymond three-pointer 27 seconds later halted the Fordham run but Moore hit a jumper with 11:19 left in the period to put Fordham up one, 17-16.
Jamal McLean answered with a layup for Xavier 19 seconds later, but Jacob Green hit one of two free throws with 10:44 remaining to tie the game at 18.
Redford broke the tie for the Musketeers with a three-pointer before a Moore jumper brought the Rams to within one, 21-20, at the midway mark of the half. Redford's third three-pointer of the half seconds later boosted the Xavier lead to four, 24-20, but a driving layup from Fontan with 7:51 left made it a two-point game, 24-22.
Xavier then used a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to extend the lead to 12, 36-24, and the Musketeers took a 13-point advantage, 42-29, into the intermission.
The Musketeers outscored the Rams 16-4 over the first 4:32 of the second half to take a 61-33 lead following a Redford three-pointer. Moore answered with a three-pointer for the Rams to cut the deficit back to 25, 61-36, with 14:38 left but that was as close a Fordham would get (the Rams trailed by 25 again with 8:10 left following a Fontan free throw).
Fontan finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two assists while Tanner also scored in double figures with ten points.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, February 18th, as they travel to Philadelphia to face Temple University in an Atlantic 10 match-up in the Liacouras Center at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Moore's previous career-highs were 21 points and nine rebounds, which he accomplished in against Massachusetts on Wednesday...He is averaging 18.5 ppg and 7.3 rpg over the past four games...Fontan's three-pointer was a 35-footer on an out of bounds play with just one second on the shot clock...Fontan has scored in double figures in the past eleven games and 15 of the past 16...He is averaging 17.3 ppg over the past eleven games...Tanner's ten points matches his career-high which he set in the Rams' last game versus Massachusetts...Xavier has won the past six meetings, including two this year, and now leads the all-time series, 18-3...The Rams are now 5-6 on Valentine's Day since 1967...Fordham forced 12 Xavier turnovers while committing ten, the 17th time the Rams have committed fewer turnovers than their opponents...The matchup between Xavier and Fordham was just one of more than 90 games this season between teams from the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities across the United States...Each of the 28 is dedicated to strong academics and teaching women and men to serve others and live a faith that does justice.
