Box Score Nov. 13, 2010
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| Sean Brennan's NY Daily News Article | Joe Staszewski's NY Post Article
Bronx. N.Y. -
First the good news for Fordham fans. The Rams opened the season by outrebounding Brown 49-36, held the Bears to shooting 32.1% while outscoring Brown 38-29 in the second half and committed only ten turnovers. Now the bad. The Rams opened the game with too much emotion and found themselves down 40-27 at the half and, despite taking a one-point lead in the second half, couldn't overcome Brown, falling, 69-65, in the season opener for both teams.
"You can't shoot fifty seven percent from the free throw line and win close games," said head coach Tom Pecora who was making his Fordham debut. "I'm happy that we only had ten turnovers but we fell in love with the three-pointer and didn't drive well enough in the first half. We need to get the ball in the post more and grind it out."
Fordham did get the ball in the post more in the second half and were awarded 15 free throws but made only ten. Overall, Fordham shot 57.1% (12-21) from the charity stripe.
Fordham sophomore forward Chris Gaston, the 2010 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, picked up where he left off, recording his 20th career double-double with 21 points and 17 rebounds, both game-highs. He also added two blocks and two steals.
Trailing 40-27 at the break the Rams opened the second half with five straight points, two on a Brenton Butler jumper 50 seconds into the half, two from a Chris Gaston layup a minute later and one from a Butler free throw with 17:46 left to cut the deficit to eight, 40-32.
The Bears answered with five consecutive points of their own to get the lead back to 13, 45-32, on a Tucker Halpern three-point play with 15:27 remaining but that ignited a 13-2 Fordham spurt, led by ten points from Alberto Estwick, to make it a two-point game, 47-45, following a Gaston layup with 10:19 left. Estwick started the run with a three-pointer and followed a Marvin Dominique free throw with a jumper. After a Peter Sullivan jumper for Brown, Estwick converted a three-point play to make it a 47-41 game and then hit a layup 40 seconds before Gaston's bucket.
An Andrew McCarthy jumper with just under ten minutes remaining boosted the Brown lead to four, 49-45, before Branden Frazier made it a one-point game with a three-pointer with 9:14 left.
An Adrian Williams trifecta started a 9-1 Brown run that helped the Bears take a 58-49 lead on a Sean McGonagill three-pointer with 7:27 left. But the Rams came right back, scoring ten unanswered points, five of those from Butler, to take their only lead of the half, 59-58, as Butler hit one of two free throws with 4:48 remaining. The play was set up by a Gaston steal at midcourt with Gaston feeding Butler who attacked the basket.
Halpern halted the Fordham run with a jumper 26 seconds later and then hit a three-pointer with 3:10 left to put Brown up four, 63-59. An Andrew McCarthy free throw with 1:32 remaining bumped the Bears' lead to five, 64-59, and Butler responded with a three-pointer 15 seconds later made it a two-point contest, 64-62. But that was as close as Fordham would get as the Bears hit five of their six free throws over the final 26 seconds and the Rams could only answer with a Frazier three-pointer with five seconds left to make the final 69-65.
Butler added 17 points for the Rams while Estwick (13) and Frazier (11) also finished in double figures with each adding six rebounds and Frazier dishing out five assists in his collegiate debut. Dominique pulled down ten rebounds in his first collegiate game for Fordham.
The Rams will next be in action on Monday night, November 15th as they host the Sacred Heart Pioneers in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The win was the second in a row for the Bears over the Rams but Fordham still leads the all-time series, 4-2... Fordham is now 128-77 all-time against Ivy League schools... The opening night loss is the third straight for Fordham... Butler's 17 points brings his career total to 1,147, tying him with Jim Manhardt (1961-64) for 20th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list... Butler hit two three-pointers in the game giving him 176 for his career, good for sixth on the Rams' all-time list, one behind Jean Prioleau (1988-92) for fifth... The ten turnovers by the Rams ties last year's season low... Included in Fordham's 49 rebounds were 20 offensive boards which the Rams converted into 15 points.
