Box Score Feb. 7, 2009
Final Stats
WASHINGTON - While the United State Congress was working on an economic stimulus plan across town, the Fordham University men's basketball team was at George Washington University's Smith Center looking for an offensive stimulus plan. Playing without the services of senior Chris Bethel, who suffered a season-ending injury a week ago, and Brenton Butler, who missed his 13th straight game, the Rams were looking for answers both offensively and on the boards (Bethel was leading Fordham in rebounding before getting hurt), against the Colonials.
Unfortunately, Fordham couldn't find a plan as the Rams fell to George Washington, 87-62, in an Atlantic 10 match-up. With the loss, the Rams fall to 3-17 on the year, 1-7 in the Atlantic 10, while the Colonials, who snapped an eleven-game losing streak, improves to 7-13 overall, 1-7 in the conference.
The loss overshadowed a 22-point effort from freshman guard Jio Fontan, his second 20-point outburst over the past three games.
Fordham struggled offensively in the first half, shooting just 23.3% (7-30) in the period, just 2-for-13 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, George Washington couldn't miss over the first 20 minutes, shooting at a 63.9% (23-36) clip, including 4-for-5 from long distance.
A Mike Moore three-pointer opened the scoring for the Rams, giving Fordham a 3-0 lead 1:44 into the game. Noel Wilmore answered with a three-pointer for the Colonials 39 seconds later to tie the game but a Luke Devine put-back made it a 5-2 game for the Rams with 17:15 remaining in the half.
A Rob Diggs dunk knotted the game for George Washington 20 seconds later and another Diggs basket with 16:16 left put the Colonials up two, 7-5.
Moore cut the Fordham deficit in half with a free throw with just under 16 minutes remaining but George Washington would respond with nine straight points to take a 16-6 lead on a Joseph Katuka tip-in with 13:23 left in the half.
Trey Blue trimmed the Colonial lead back to seven, 16-9, with a three-pointer 13 seconds later but George Washington quickly got the lead back to double digits as a Tony Taylor trifecta with 12:42 left in the half ignited a 14-2 run to help the Colonials take a 30-11 lead midway through the half.
George Washington took a 33-point lead into the intermission, 57-24, and extended it to as many as 39, 70-31, early in the second half.
Later in the half, the Rams used a 9-2 spurt, with seven of the points coming from Fontan, to cut the deficit to 82-53, and Fordham closed out the game with another 9-2 run, led by a pair of Blue three-pointers, for the 87-62 final.
Fontan added five assists and four rebounds to go with his game-high 22 points while Blue finished with 18 points and Moore added 15 along with six rebounds.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday night, February 11th, as they host the University of Massachusetts in an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gym.
Notes
George Washington has now won nine of the past ten meetings and lead the all-time series, 17-5....The Rams have never won a game against the Colonials in Washington, D.C...Fordham hit ten three-pointers in the game, the most by the Rams since they connected on eleven at Dayton on Jan. 14th...Fontan has now scored in double figures in nine straight games and 13 of the last 14...He is averaging 17.7 ppg over the past nine contests...Fordham signee Brian Freeman, a senior at Potomac (Va.) School, was in attendance...Steve Wolf, who hosted Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg on his official recruiting visit to N.C. State, was the analyst for the CBS College Sports Network broadcast...Freshman walk-on Ryan Hage, who missed the past 15 games, dressed for the first time since getting injured in the Princeton game.
