Box Score Nov. 15, 2010
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| Sean Brennan's NY Daily News story
Bronx, N.Y. -
Learning to win is a process, especially for a young team. The 2010-11 Fordham University squad took a step in the right direction of that process tonight, snapping a losing streak dating back to last season with a 69-51 win over Sacred Heart in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, Fordham breaks a 22-game losing streak dating back to last year and evens its record at 1-1 on the year while Sacred Heart falls to 0-2.
"I'm very excited for the team," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora who picked up his first win on the Fordham bench. "We still didn't play 40 minutes of basketball but we played 30 to 32 minutes. I also liked the resiliency we displayed when Sacred Heart tried to come back and we defended well for the whole game."
The win was a team effort with four players finishing in doubles figures, including sophomore Chris Gaston who recorded his second straight double-double, and the 21st of his short career, with 12 points and 17 rebounds. He added four blocks and three assists in the game and has grabbed 17 rebounds in each of the first two games on 2010.
It was one of the new guys, junior transfer Kervin Bristol, who set the tempo of the game from the opening tap, literally. In his Fordham debut on Friday night, Bristol picked up two quick fouls and was limited to just nine minutes in the game. He made up for it tonight, winning the opening tap for the Rams and scoring the game's first basket 26 seconds into the contest. Bristol then blocked a Sacred Heart shot 17 seconds later and hit a jumper with 17:31 left in the half to put the Rams up 4-2, a lead they would never relinquish.
Fordham led by three at the half, 28-25, but a Jerrell Thompson layup 46 seconds into the second half made it a one-point game. The Rams responded with a Bristol jumper and a layup from Alberto Estwick over the next 1:20 to bump the lead to five, 32-27.
The Pioneers wouldn't go away that quickly as they would eventually get the Fordham advantage down to two, 38-36, on a pair of Femi Akinpetide free throws with 13:28 remaining.
A little over a minute later an Estwick layup ignited a 13-2 Fordham run as the Rams took a 51-38 following a Gaston layup with just over eight minutes remaining.
Brenton Butler led the run for the Rams with seven points, hitting two three-pointers in the spurt.
A Stan Dulaire layup temporarily halted the Fordham run and made it a 51-40 game but Butler hit another three-pointer and followed that with two free throws to get the Rams' lead up to 16, 56-40, with 4:30 left and they would build the lead to as many as 22 twice over the final 2:48, the last time at 67-45 following a Rayner Moquete jumper with 1:31 remaining.
The game opened slowly with the Rams taking the 4-2 lead on Bristol's two baskets 2:29 into the contest before the Pioneers cut it to one, 7-6, on a Chris Evans layup a little over a minute later. A Brandon Frazier three-pointer and jumper over the next six minutes increased the Fordham lead to six, 12-6, but Sacred Heart was able to cut it back to four, 14-10, with 9:41 left in the half.
The Rams then used an 8-2 spurt to take a ten-point lead, 22-12, with 7:10 remaining but the Pioneers netted seven consecutive points to whittle the Fordham lead back to three, 22-19.
Five straight points by Gaston helped Fordham raise its advantage back to eight, 27-19, but Sacred Heart outscored the Rams 6-1 over the final four minutes to cut the deficit to three at the break, 28-25.
Butler led all scored in the game with 17 points, hitting four of his seven three-pointers, and he added three steals while Frazier finished with 12 points, four assists and three steals and Bristol added ten points, five rebounds and three blocks.
The Rams will next be in action on Friday night, November 19th, as they host the Hampton University Pirates in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The Rams have taken all three meetings against Sacred Heart... The Rams are now 60-24 all-time against schools from the Northeast Conference... Fordham played eleven different players... The last Fordham win before tonight was a 93-77 win over Stony Brook last December 8th... The 51 points scored by Sacred Heart is the fewest scored by a Fordham opponent since a 53-51 win over Charlotte on February 17, 2008... Prior to that game Fordham held Rhode Island to 45 points in a 45-44 loss on February 3, 2007... The Rams have held each of their first two opponents to shooting under 43%, including holding the Pioneers to shooting just 35.1% (20-57) tonight... Fordham outrebounded Sacred Heart, 40-33, and recorded ten steals... Butler's 17 points brings his career total to 1,164, moving him in 20th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list, 14 behind Jermaine Anderson (2002-06)... Butler's four three-pointers in the game give him 180 for his career, moving him past Jean Prioleau (1988-92) and into fifth place on the Fordham career list.
