Box Score Nov. 27, 2010
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Bronx, N.Y. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson once penned, "Our strength grows out of our weaknesses." The 2010-11 Fordham University men's basketball squad was living proof of that today. Entering the game, one of the Rams' weaknesses this year has been free throw shooting as Fordham had converted only 54.7% of it charity shots. But that changed against Hartford with the Rams hitting eleven of their 13 free throw attempts, including two from Brenton Butler with eleven seconds left that broke a 57-57 tie and led Fordham to a 61-57 win over the Hawks in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, the Rams improve to 2-3 while Hartford falls to 1-4.
"This was a great win and a great way for the guys to comeback," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "I thought we played Fordham basketball for the last ten or twelve minutes and that was the difference. We started making some shots, cut down on the turnovers and made our free throws in the second half."
The game marked the 900th game in the historic Rose Hill Gym and one be would be hard pressed to find a game among the previous 899 that was as exciting. The Rams trailed just about the entire game but hit key free throws over the last minute to pull out the win. The game was won in the second half when Fordham hit all ten of its free throws and turned the ball over only five times.
Trailing by nine with 4:40 remaining, 55-46, Butler hit a jumper 18 seconds later to start a 7-0 Fordham spurt as the Rams pulled to within two, 55-53, with 2:41 left. After Butler's basket, Alberto Estwick converted a layup and Branden Frazier capped the run with a three-pointer, his third of the day.
Morag Sabia hit one of two free throws with 2:19 remaining to bump Hartford's lead to three, 56-53, while a Chris Gaston jumper at the other end with 16 seconds later made it a one-point game, 56-55.
With 1:15 left, Hartford's Joe Zeglinski was fouled and given a pair of free throws. After Zeglinski hit the first free throw, the Hawks were called for a lane violation on the second. The Rams took advantage of the turnover when
Marvin Dominique, who entered the game shooting 50.0% from the charity stripe, hit two free throws with 1:04 remaining to knot the game at 57.
The Hawks worked the ball to Zeglinski on the offensive end but his missed jumper was rebounded by Gaston for the Rams with 44 seconds left. After a time out, Fordham worked the ball to Estwick who got off a three-pointer that hit the front of the rim with Butler collecting the rebound in the lane. Butler attempted a shot but was fouled by Hartford's Clayton Brothers with eleven seconds remaining and Butler calmly sank both free throws to give Fordham a 59-57 lead.
Hartford inbounded the ball to Brothers who dribbled into the lane but saw the ball deflect off his leg and out of bounds. Frazier was fouled on the inbounds pass with 5.1 seconds remaining and hit both his free throws to ice the game for the Rams, 61-57.
The first half was all Hartford as the Hawks led by as many as 12, 30-18, with 3:18 left and took a 32-23 advantage into the break thanks to a Milton Burton layup at the buzzer. The Rams turned the ball over 12 times in the half and had just 16 rebounds.
The second half started out much the same for Hartford as the Hawks led by eleven, 38-27, with 16:53 left when the Rams scored six straight points, four from Gaston, to cut the deficit to five, 38-33, on an Estwick jumper with 14:32 left.
The Hawks built the lead back to eleven three times midway through the half, the final time at 53-42 on a Zeglinski three with 6:47 remaining.
Estwick led the Rams with 16 points, hitting seven of his 12 field goal attempts, and he grabbed five rebounds, while Frazier finished with 15 points and five rebounds and Gaston added 14 points and six rebounds.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, December 1st, as they travel up to Cambridge, Mass., for their first road game of the year, a match up with the Harvard University Crimson at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The Fordham win breaks a two-game winning streak by Hartford in the all-time series which the Rams now lead, 3-2... Fordham is now 580-320 all-time in the Rose Hill Gym... Chris Gaston saw his streak of nine straight double-doubles dating back to last year snapped... Brenton Butler finished with nine points, bringing his career total to 1,186, moving him past Jermaine Anderson (2002-06) and Steve Samuels (1980-85) and into 18th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list, 32 points behind Jason Harris (1997-2001)... Butler hit one three-pointer in the game to give him 183 for his career, fifth best on the Fordham career list... Fordham outrebounded Hartford, 38-25, and have outrebounded each opponent this year... Marvin Dominique grabbed eleven rebounds, his fourth double digit rebounding game of the year... Both Fordham wins this year have come against teams that wear red and white uniforms (Sacred heart and Hartford)... The Rams have already matched their win total from last year.
