Box Score Feb. 20, 2010
Final Stats
Kingston, R.I. -
When the Fordham-Rhode Island basketball game started it almost appeared as if some of the Rhode Island athletes from the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships, which was being contested next door to the Ryan Center, had found the wrong venue. Rhode Island sprinted by the Fordham defense over the first three minutes, building a 20-point lead, and Fordham couldn't recover, falling to Rhode Island, 101-75, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Ryan Center.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 2-23 overall, 0-13 in the Atlantic 10, while Rhode Island improves to 20-6 overall, 8-5 in the conference.
Rhode Island held a 30-point lead at the half, 58-28, but Fordham didn't back down in the second half, outscoring Rhode Island, 47-43, in the period. Fordham shot a blistering 58.1% (18-31) in the second half while committing only five turnovers.
Overshadowed in the loss was the game of Chris Gaston, who tied his career-high with 32 points and he added ten rebounds to notch his 16th double-double of the year. The 16 doubles-doubles are believed to be the most for a Ram in over 30 years.
Fordham picked the wrong time to play Rhode Island as the home team entered the game on a three-game losing streak and is fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid. Rhode Island came out and connected on nine of its first ten field goal attempts and employed a full court press that forced six Fordham turnovers over the first 6:30 of the game as Rhode Island took a 24-4 lead.
A Tanner jumper cut the Fordham deficit back to 18 and Fordham would again trail by 18, 27-9, with 11:59 left in the half following a Gaston dunk.
Later in the half Fordham trailed by 20, 35-15, when Rhode Island went on a 14-4 run to take a 30-point lead, 49-19, with 5:33 left in the period.
Rhode Island got the lead to as many as 34, 57-23, with 1:39 remaining but a pair of Gaston free throws and a Brenton Butler three-point play got the Fordham deficit to 30 at the break.
Rhode Island bumped the lead up to 32, 62-30, early in the second half but Fordham used a 13-5 spurt to cut the Rhody lead to 24, 67-43, on a Gaston layup with 13:19 left.
Fordham would slash the Rhode Island advantage to 24 four more times over the next five minutes and then scored five straight points to make it a 19-point game, 81-62, following a Butler jumper with 7:45 left but that was as close as Fordham would get.
Butler added 17 points for Fordham while Herb Tanner chipped in with a career-high 14 points, shooting 6-for-8 from the field, and he added four assists.
Fordham will next be in action on Wednesday, February 24th as they host the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in an Atlantic 10 contest in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Gaston previously scored 32 points in two other games this year, at St. John's in December and against Charlotte in February ...He now has 450 points on the year, the second most in a season for a Fordham freshman, behind only Bevon Robin who netted 495 as a rookie in 1997-98...The 16 doubles-doubles may be a school record but individual game results are not available for seasons prior to 1975...Butler's 17 points brings his career total to 1,068, good for 27th on the Fordham all-time list, five points behind Dan O'Sullivan (1986-90)...Tanner's previous career-high for points was 10, which he first accomplished against Massachusetts and Xavier last year and matched against George Washington this season...The four assists was a season-high for Tanner...Fordham was held without a three-pointer for the second time this season...Butler converted seven of his nine free throw attempts and is now shooting 96-117 (82.1%) on the year...Rhode Island now leads the all-time series, 30-23...The 40 Rhode Island field goals is a season-high for a Fordham opponent as was Rhode Island's 27 assists...Former Ram Luke Devine, a Rhode Island native, was in attendance.
