Box Score Feb. 6, 2010
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Bronx, N.Y. -
Coming off a 108-60 loss at Xavier last Sunday, no one knew what to expect from the Fordham men's basketball team on Saturday as they hosted Charlotte. But what the Rams showed their fans is that young players are resilient and if head coach Jared Grasso is given a week to prepare the Rams can hang with anyone, giving the first-place 49ers all they could handle before falling, 77-72, in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 2-19 overall, 0-9 in the Atlantic 10, while Charlotte, winner of its last seven, goes to 18-5, 8-1 in the conference.
"We played hard all game and I'm impressed with the way the guys competed today," said Fordham head coach Jared Grasso. "But it was one of those games where we had them on the ropes but couldn't close out the game."
Chris Gaston further improved on his Rookie of the Year resume, tying his season-high with 32 points and adding 12 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the year. He also added six assists and one block while shooting 9-for-14 from the field and 14-for-17 from the free throw stripe.
Fordham guard Brenton Butler came up just short in his bid for 1,000 career points, finishing with 15 to bring his total to 997. He missed a three-pointer with 46 seconds left, a shot that would have given the Rams a one-point lead and Butler his 1,000th career point.
The Rams held the 49ers to five three-pointers in the game, but three of those came late in the second half as Derrio Green, who made all five Charlotte threes, hit three straight over the final four minutes, the final one giving Charlotte a 70-68 lead with 2:07 left.
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Fahro Alihodzic layup 23 second later knotted the game at 70 but a pair of Green free throws with 1:29 remaining put the 49ers up, 72-70.
Gaston retied the game at 72 with two free throws 18 seconds later but Green broke the tie and gave Charlotte the lead for good with a pair of charity shots with 54 seconds left.
After Butler's missed three, DiJuan Harris hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds remaining to make it a 75-72 game. The Rams had one last chance but a Gaston three-pointer with four ticks remaining fell off and Harris closed out the game with a two free throws with a second left.
Fordham held a 30-29 halftime lead but the 49ers scored the first six points of the first half to take a 35-30 lead 1:11 into the period. But unlike some other games this year, the Rams stood tall, as Gaston scored eight straight Fordham points and when Alihodzic hit two free throws with 14:22 left, the Rams led 44-37.
Later in the half, Fordham would get the lead to ten, 59-49, the Rams' largest lead of the day, before Charlotte used a 13-4 run to cut the Fordham lead back to one, 63-62, with 4:11 left.
Charlotte opened the game with a 7-3 lead before the Rams responded with a 13-4 run, led by four points from Butler, to take a 16-11 lead with 13:49 left in the half.
The 49ers then scored five straight points to tie the game at 16 with eleven minutes remaining, the first of six ties over the next ten minutes, the last at 28 on a pair of Alihodzic with 1:21 left. After Shamari Spears hit one of two free throws with 59 seconds left, Gaston buried a jumper with 26 seconds remaining to give the Rams a 30-29 lead at the break.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, February 10th, as they travel to St. Bonaventure, N.Y., to face the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies in an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 PM.
Notes
Gaston tied his season-high with the 32 points, a total he first netted at St. John's on December 19th...Gaston's six assists is a season-high, surpassing the five helpers he dished out against Stony Brook in December...The 13 doubles-doubles from Gaston is the second most for an Atlantic 10 player this year and tied for eighth among all NCAA Division I players...He is now averaging 18.4 and 10.7 on the year, both team-highs, and 18.4 ppg and 11.0 rpg in Atlantic 10...Gaston's 387 points this year is the fourth most for a Fordham freshman in school history... Brennen Melvin played a season-high 27 minutes, scoring two points and adding a season-best four assists...Five Fordham freshmen (Gaston, Alihodzic, Melvin, Lance Brown and Rayner Moquete) combined to play 129 of a possible 200 minutes...Charlotte has now won two straight over Fordham and lead the all-time series, 6-1.
