Box Score March 7, 2009
Final Stats |
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Bronx, N.Y. -
They came to Fordham from different backgrounds. One was straight out of high school, one went to prep school and the third came from junior college. But they all shared something today as all three senior members of the Rams' basketball squad made their final appearance in historic Rose Hill Gym. Unfortunately, Chris Bethel, Luke Devine and Zach Wing's career didn't end the way they would have liked as Saint Joseph's upended Fordham, 71-54, in the Rams' season finale.
With the loss, the Rams close out the season with a 3-25 overall record, 1-15 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's improves to 16-14 overall, 9-7 in the conference.
Bethel, who had his career ended by an injury on January 31st, could only watch from the bench while Devine and Wing tried to lead a young Fordham team one last time. Devine finished with five points and five rebounds while Wing added two points and five boards.
"I can't say enough about this senior class," said Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "I thought Chris was coming around before the injury and Zach Wing is a walk-on who used to get on a bus in Queens at three in the morning to make it here for a six AM practice. And I wish I had more Luke Devine's on my team."
The Rams fed off the senior's energy, especially in the second half when they cut a 30-point Hawk lead back to 14 with just under six minutes remaining.
Saint Joseph's took its biggest lead of the afternoon, 53-23, on a pair of Tasheed Carr free throws with 15:42 remaining. Fordham responded with a Matt Beck three-pointer to make it a 53-26 game 14 seconds later, but an Ahmad Nivins layup put the Hawks' lead up to 29, 55-26, with just over 14 minutes left.
Fordham then outscored Saint Joseph's 20-5 over the next eight minutes, cutting the deficit to 14, 60-46, on a Beck three-pointer with 5:57 left in the contest. Wing got the run started with a layup while Alberto Estwick and Jio Fontan each netted four points in the spurt.
Saint Joseph's responded with six straight points to get the lead back to 20, 66-46, with 2:39 remaining, before Estwick connected on back-to-back three-pointers over the next 36 seconds to make it a 14-point game again, 66-52. But that was a close as Fordham would get.
The Hawks jumped out to a five-point lead, 7-2, over the first 3:43 and led by five again, 11-6, two minutes later when a Fontan three-point play cut the Saint Joseph's lead back to two, 11-9, with 12:45 left in the half.
Baskets from Bryant Irwin and Garrett Williamson boosted the Saint Joseph's lead to six, 15-9, but Jacob Green answered with a pair of free throws for the Rams to make it a 15-11 game with 10:38 remaining.
The Saint Joseph's offense then got hot, scoring 12 consecutive points to build the lead to 16, 27-11, with 7:54 left and the Hawks would eventually take a 22-point lead, 37-15, on two Edwin Lashley free throws 1:27 before the break. But a Fontan free throw and an Estwick layup over the final 1:11 of the half cut the Fordham deficit to 19 at the intermission, 37-18.
Estwick led the Rams with 16 points while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists while Fontan added 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Green netted eight points and added four rebounds and three blocks.
Notes
The win is the third straight in the all-time series for Saint Joseph's, who now leads the series, 25-16...Estwick closed out the season scoring in double figures in the last three games, averaging 14.3 ppg over that span...Fontan closed out his season with his 24th double figure scoring game, including 16 of the final 17 games...His total of 429 points is the third highest total for a freshman in Fordham history (Bevon Robin scored 495 in 1997-98 and Bryant Dunston netted 431 points in 2004-05)...Fontan finished the season with 132 assists, the most for a Ram since Bevon Robin dished out 148 in 2000-01, and the most for a Fordham freshman in school history...Green's three blocks brings his team-leading total on the season to 35...Fordham forced 16 Saint Joseph's turnovers while committing just eight, the 18th time this year that the Rams had fewer turnovers than their opponent...The matchup between Saint Joseph's 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...To recognize the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight, the Fordham Ram and the Saint Joseph's Hawk mascots exchanged t-shirts during the first half...UConn head women's basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, whose son plays for Saint Joseph's, was in attendance.
