Box Score Feb. 24, 2010
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| 2/24/10 - Highlights vs. St. Bonaventure 
Bronx, N.Y. -
The meteorologists are calling for blizzard-like condition to hit the New York City area on Thursday morning but the whiteout hit the Bronx early as Fordham students turned out in force for a Whiteout Game in the Rose Hill Gym. And the Rams responded, playing a spirited contest, battling from start to finish before coming up short, falling to St. Bonaventure, 73-68, in an Atlantic 10 contest.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-24 overall, 0-14 in the Atlantic 10, while St. Bonaventure improves to 12-14 overall, 5-8 in the conference.
"I think the guys really played hard tonight," said Fordham head coach Jared Grasso. "I told them after the URI game that I was worried about their effort and energy over these last three games. But tonight they came out and battled."
Despite the loss, in a close game that featured 13 ties and 12 lead changes, the Fordham students lined up prior to the game to attend a special pregame ceremony where Brenton Butler was presented with a ball, commemorating his 1000th career point that he scored at St. Bonaventure on February 10th. He didn't disappoint the home crowd, or his parents who were in the stands, scoring a team-high 20 points.
"Brenton Butler is the epitome of a Fordham student-athlete," added Grasso. "He's the kind of player you can build a program around and probably one of the most popular students on campus. We are asking a lot of him this year and he has been responding."
Chris Gaston also aided the Fordham cause, chipping in with his third straight double-double of the year, netting 18 points and adding 13 rebounds. It is his 17th double-double of the year, the second most among all Atlantic 10 players and the most for any freshman in the NCAA.
Despite shooting 37.9% (11-29) in the first half, the Rams led by one at the break, 35-34, thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Herb Tanner.
The Bonnies opened the second half with an 8-4 spurt over the first 3:24 to take a three-point lead, 42-39, following a Malcolm Eleby free throw but a Gaston layup made it a one-point game 25 seconds later.
Four minutes later, St. Bonaventure went up by seven, 56-49, on a pair of Michael Davenport free throws but a Herb Tanner free throw and a Gaston layup over the next minute cut the Fordham deficit back to four, 56-52, with 11:08 left.
The Rams trailed by five, 65-60, with 4:27 remaining and six straight St. Bonaventure points helped the Bonnies take a 71-60 lead, their largest lead of the night, with just over three minutes left.
But the Rams didn't back down, aided by poor free throw shooting by St. Bonaventure who hit only two of its eight free throws over the last two minutes. Two charity shots from Rayner Moquete and two from Butler helped Fordham cut the Bonnies' lead back to seven, 71-64, with 1:51 left. After Chris Matthews hit one of two free throws, Butler hit a running layup with just over a minute remaining and then nailed two free throws with 41 seconds left to make it a four-point game, 72-68. But that was as close as the Rams would get.
St. Bonaventure opened a five-point lead, 11-6, just over seven minutes into the contest but a Brennen Melvin three-pointer and a Gaston layup knotted the game at eleven with 11:53 left in the half.
The game would be tied eight more times over the next eleven minutes, the final time at 32 with 45 seconds remaining. A Jonathan Hall jumper with nine seconds left gave the Bonnies a 34-32 lead before Tanner connected on an off-balance three-pointer to give Fordham a 35-34 lead at the intermission.
Tanner finished with nine points, four assists and three rebounds for the Rams while Melvin and Moquete each chipped in with five points.
The Rams will next be in action next Wednesday, March 3rd, as they host the Xavier University Musketeers in an Atlantic 10 matchup in the Rose Hill Gym for Senior Night at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Butler's 20 points brings his career total to 1,087, good for 24th on the Fordham all-time scoring list, 14 points behind Damon Lopez (1988-91)...He hit two three-pointers tonight to bring his career total to 171, good for sixth place on the Fordham career list, six behind Jean Prioleau (1988-92)...Butler's 500 career three-point attempts is also sixth best in school history...Gaston's 18 points brings his season total to 468, the second most points scored by a Fordham freshman in school history (Bevon Robin netted 495 in 1997-98)...Tanner is averaging 8.8 ppg over the past four contests...He matched his season-high with the four assists...The Rams were without the services of Lance Brown, who missed the game with an injury...Fordham held the Bonnies to shooting one-for-seven from behind the arc...The Rams committed eleven turnovers on the night, one more than their season low of ten against Charlotte...The Bonnies have won the past three meetings and now lead the all-time series, 16-14.
