Box Score Feb. 10, 2010
Final Stats
St. Bonaventure, N.Y. -
On Fordham's first possession of the game, Chris Gaston grabbed the rebound of his own miss and laid the ball in for a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately not much else went right for the Rams in the first half as Fordham trailed 34-19 at the break and 22 second half points from Brenton Butler wouldn't be enough as Fordham fell to St. Bonaventure, 72-61, in an Atlantic 10 game at the Reilly Center.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-20 overall, 0-10 in the Atlantic 10, while St. Bonaventure improves to 10-12 overall, 3-6 in the conference.
The 26 points for Butler brings his career total to 1,023 as he becomes the 33rd player in Fordham history to score more than 1,000 career points. He hit the 1,000-point plateau with a pair of free throws with 4:01 left in the half.
Chris Gaston recorded his 14th double-double of the year for the Rams, finishing with ten points and 14 rebounds, along with five blocks. It was his second straight double-double and the fourth in the last five games.
The 15-point deficit at the break for the Rams was attributed to cold shooting as Fordham shot just 29.2% (7-24) from the field, 0-for-5 from behind the arc. Fordham improved in the second half, shooting 54.5% (12-22), led by Butler who was 6-for-10 in the period, 4-for-7 from three-point land.
St. Bonaventure scored 25 seconds into the second half to take a 17-point lead, and would be up by 15, 43-28, with 14:27 remaining when back-to-back Butler three-pointers pulled Fordham to within nine, 43-34, with 13:36 remaining.
The Bonnies answered Butler's two trifectas with a 10-2 run to get the lead back to 17, 53-36, on a Michael Davenport jumper midway through the half. St. Bonaventure would extend the lead to 18, 61-43, on a Chris Mathews' three-pointer with just over six minutes left in the game, the Bonnies biggest lead of the night.
A Fahro Alihodzic three-point play 30 seconds later was the first of eight straight Fordham points with Butler providing the other five, the final three on a three-pointer with 4:29 left to make it a ten-point game, 61-51.
The Rams would get the lead down to nine, 64-55, on a pair of Gaston free throws with 2:28 remaining and again 20 seconds later as Herb Tanner dunked over six-foot, nine-inch Andrew Nicholson. Following a Bonnies turnover, Butler hit two free throws to pull the Rams to within seven, 66-59, with 1:44 left and, following a St. Bonaventure basket, a Tanner jumper got Fordham to within seven again, 68-61, with just over a minute remaining. The Rams had a chance to get closer but a loose ball that resulted from Tanner batting away a pass ended up with the Bonnies and St. Bonaventure hit four free throws over the final 55 seconds to secure the win.
Alihodzic finished with 14 points and seven rebounds for the Rams while Brennen Melvin added five points and five rebounds.
Fordham will next be in action on Saturday, February 13th, as they host the George Washington University Colonials in an Atlantic 10 contest in the Rose Hill Gym at 1:00 PM.
Notes
The 1,023 career points place Butler in 32nd place on the Fordham all-time scoring list, one point behind Bill Mainor...Butler now has eight 20-point games this year, second on the team only to Gaston who has ten... The Bonnies now lead the all-time series, 15-14...The five points and five rebounds were both season-highs for Melvin...Gaston's five blocks ties his season-high, which he has now done three times, most recently versus Bowling Green in December...Tanner surpassed his season-high with the six points (his previous high was five)...The Rams outrebounded the Bonnies, 38-37...Fordham registered a season-low two assists in the game...The Rams have now lost their last 17 road contests, dating back to a win at St. Bonaventure in January of last year.
