Box Score March 4, 2009
Final Stats
Philadelphia, Pa. -- It would be safe to say that the Fordham men's basketball team had a shot to beat La Salle on Wednesday night. It would be more accurate to say that the Rams had their shots to defeat the Explorers as Fordham attempted 64 field goals in the game, just one shy of its season-high. The problem was that the Rams didn't make enough of their shots, falling to La Salle, 79-59, in an Atlantic 10 game at the Gola Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 3-24 overall on the year, 1-14 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle improves to 17-12 overall, 8-7 in the conference.
Fordham freshman Jio Fontan and senior Luke Devine did their best to give the Rams a shot at winning with Fontan netting a game-high 23 points while Devine chipped in with a career-high ten points and eight rebounds. Fontan, who had his streak of double figures scoring games snapped at 14 last Saturday at Charlotte, also dished out five assists and recorded two steals.
The Rams trailed by seven at the half, 37-30, before cutting the La Salle lead back to five on an Alberto Estwick layup just under two minutes into the second half. But the Explorers went on a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to open a 12-point lead, 46-34, following a Rodney Green free throw with 15:16 left in the game.
Green answered a Fontan jumper with a pair of free throws to help La Salle maintain a 12-point lead, 48-36, a minute later, when the Rams would use a 16-8 run to cut the deficit to four, 56-52, with 9:12 remaining. Fontan, who started the rally with a three-pointer, and Estwick, who capped the spurt with a layup, each netted five points in the run.
But the Fordham offense went cold after the Estwick layup as La Salle netted 12 unanswered points to take a commanding 16-point lead, 68-52, on a Kimmani Barrett layup with 4:57 left before a Mike Moore layup pulled the Rams to within 12, 68-54, 30 seconds later, the closest the Rams would get.
Fordham opened the game cold as La Salle jumped out to a 9-3 lead over the first three minutes. But back-to-back three-pointers from Fontan and Estwick over the next three minutes knotted the game at nine with 12:58 left in the half.
A Vernon Goodridge basket put the Explorers up two before Estwick answered with a three-pointer for the Rams, giving Fordham it's only lead of the night, 12-11, with 12:20 remaining in the period.
A minute later, Devine tied the game at 14 with a jumper but La Salle then scored eight straight points to take a 22-14 lead on a Ruben Guillandeaux three-pointer four minutes later.
The Rams would cut the Explorers' lead back to one twice over the next two minutes, both times on a Fontan three-pointer, but La Salle closed out the half with an 8-2 run to take the 37-30 halftime lead.
Estwick finished with 15 point and four rebounds for the Rams while Moore added eleven points and four boards.
The Rams will close out the 2008-09 season on Saturday afternoon as they host the Saint Joseph's University Hawks on Senior Day in the Rose Hill Gym at 1:00 p.m.
Notes
La Salle has now won the last two meetings and leads the all-time series, 28-13....Devine's previous career-high was six points, which he accomplished twice, last at St. Bonaventure...He is averaging 6.5 rpg over the past four games...Fontan's 23 points were just two shy of his season-high and gives him 414 on the year, the third highest total for a freshman in Fordham history...Estwick has now scored in double figures in each of the past two games...Freshman Lamar Thomas recorded two blocked shots for the Rams...Senior Zach Wing grabbed six rebounds, one shy of his career-high...After shooting 83.3% (25-30) from the charity stripe over the past two games, the Rams shot 50.0% (4-8) from the line tonight...All ten players who dressed saw action tonight.
