Box Score Feb. 28, 2009
Final Stats
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It was a numbers game for the Fordham University men's basketball team at Charlotte on Saturday. The big numbers were 25 (points scored by Charlotte off Fordham turnovers) and seven (the number of scholarship players the Rams dressed for the fifth straight game). And in the end the numbers caught up to Fordham, as the 49ers upended the Rams 73-55 in an Atlantic 10 game at the Halton Arena.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 3-23 overall on the year, 1-13 in the Atlantic 10, while Charlotte improves to 11-17, 5-9 in the conference.
"I'm proud of the way my guys battled today," said Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "We came cut it to 13 in the second half but the intentional foul really hurt us. We are down in numbers so we have a very small margin of error and we can't afford to give up 25 points off turnovers."
Mike Moore led the Rams with a game-high 20 points, his third straight 20-point game and the fifth 20-point performance over the past six contest, and he added seven rebounds.
The Rams took a 2-0 lead on a Jacob Green jumper just over a minute into the game but that would be the only lead Fordham would enjoy on the afternoon.
The 49ers outscored the Rams 15-2 over the next five minutes, taking a 15-4 lead following a Charlie Coley dunk with 13:55 left in the half.
Fordham stormed back as a Jio Fontan three-point play ignited an 8-2 run as the Rams pulled to within five, 17-12, on a Green jumper with 12 minutes remaining in the half. But Charlotte scored the next seven points to build the lad back to 12, 24-12, 1:30 later.
The Rams trimmed the lead back to eight, 24-16, on an Alberto Estwick layup with 8:20 left but an 11-4 Charlotte run made it a 35-20 game with 3:23 remaining in the period.
Fordham scored the final six points of the half, the first four from Moore and the final basket an Estwick layup with 22 seconds left as the Rams trailed by nine, 35-26 at the break.
Charlotte opened the second half hot, opening the second half with a 22-4 run to take a 57-34 lead with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game.
The Rams fought back, scoring ten straight points to cut the deficit to 13, 57-44, on an Estwick three-pointer with 9:36 left.
A Lamont Mack jumper stopped the Fordham run and then Fontan was called for an intentional foul, following a Fordham turnover, with DiJuan Harris connecting on both free throws and the 49ers getting the ball back due to the foul. Charlotte used the momentum to score four more points to take a commanding 67-44 lead with 7:13 remaining and the closest the Rams would get would be 18, which they did twice over the final four minutes, the final time on an Estwick jumper with 13 seconds left.
Estwick also scored in double figures for the Rams, finishing with 12 points, while Fontan added nine points and Luke Devine grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday night, March 4th as they travel to Philadelphia to face La Salle University in an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 p.m. in the Gola Arena.
Notes
The 49ers now lead the all-time series, 5-1...Fordham is now 3-9 all-time in the city of Charlotte...Former NBA player and coach Paul Silas was in attendance...Moore is averaging 21.0 ppg over the past six games at span...Fontan had his streak of double-digit scoring games snapped at 14...He is now averaging 16.7 ppg over the past 15 games...Fontan's nine points brings his season total to 391, the fourth best total for a freshman in school history...He is three points behind Marcus Stout for third place...Devine's previous career-high in rebounding was six, which he did three times the last against Rhode Island on January 18th...Fordham was 9-for-10 from the free throw stripe and have shot 25-for-30 from the charity line over the past two games...Green recorded two blocks in the game to bring his team-leading total to 32...The loss eliminates the Rams from qualifying for the Atlantic 10 Championship.
