Box Score Dec. 30, 2010
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Santa Clara, Ca. -
Over the recent four-game winning streak, the Fordham University Rams did it with offense and defense, shooting almost 50% from the field while holding opponents to under 39%. Tonight the Rams offense couldn't get on track and their defense came up short as Fordham saw the winning streak snapped with a 73-57 loss to American University in the first round of the 44th annual Cable Car Classic at Santa Clara University's Leavey Center.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 6-5 on the year while American improves to 8-5.
The Rams will now face the host school, Santa Clara University, who fell to Delaware in the first game tonight, in the consolation game on Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. (EST).
Maybe the past three crazy days of travel finally caught up with the Rams who shot 37.0% (20-54) in the game while allowing American to shoot 45.3% (24-53) in the game.
The Rams got off to a slow start as the Eagles jumped out to a 10-0 lead 3:26 into the game before Branden Frazier got Fordham on the board with a three-pointer nine seconds later. But American outscored Fordham 10-2 over the next three minutes to go up by 15 points, 20-5, following a pair of Nick Hendra free throws with 13:37 left in the half.
American got the lead up to as many as 16, 23-7, and led by 13, 34-21, with 3:11 remaining when the Rams scored six straight points to cut the deficit to seven, 34-27, on an Alberto Estwick three-pointer with 1:24 left in the period and the Rams trailed by seven, 29-26, at the break, thanks to a Brenton Butler basket, with a second left on the clock.
The second half started off slowly for the Rams as they saw the Eagles build their lead back to eleven, 41-30, 3:22 into the half and American led by eleven again, 43-32, two minutes later when Butler netted four straight for the Rams to make it a seven-point game, 43-36, with 13:40 remaining.
The Eagles quickly got their lead back to 13, 49-36, and would get the lead up to 15, 58-43, with just under nine minutes left. The Rams got the American advantage down to eleven, 58-47, two minutes later only to see the Eagles bump it back to 15, 62-47, a minute after that.
A Rayner Moquete layup with just over five minutes left started a 5-0 Fordham spurt as the Rams pulled to within ten, 63-53. Following an American miss, Fordham had a chance to get the deficit under ten but Moquete was whistled for an offensive foul and the Eagles would use that call to score ten of the next 12 points to take an 18-point lead with 23 seconds left before Ryan Hage closed out the scoring on the night with a jumper just before the final buzzer.
Butler led the Rams with 14 points, shooting eight-for-eleven from the line, while Chris Gaston added ten points and nine rebounds and Frazier finished with eight points.
Notes
This is Fordham's second appearance in the Cable Car Classic as the Rams also played in the tournament in 1999, falling to Stanford in the first game and defeating George Mason in the consolation contest... The game was the first meeting between Fordham and American on the hardwood... The Rams are now 167-116 all-time against schools from the Patriot League... Butler's 14 points brings his career total to 1,293, good for 12th on the Fordham career scoring list, 30 points behind Bill Langheld (1965-68) for 11th place... He was held without a three-pointer for the second straight game... Fordham outrebounded American 39-37, the tenth time in the eleven games this year that Fordham outrebounded it opponent... The Rams had a season-low five assists and tied a season-low with four three-pointes made and two blocks... Fordham also tied a season-low with nine turnovers.
