Box Score Jan. 13, 2011
Final Stats
Washington, D.C. -
The Fordham University basketball squad was able to avoid the second significant snowstorm of the winter to hit the New York area as they got out of town before the flakes started to fall. The Rams even lucked out as the same storm only gave the Washington, D.C., area a light dusting last night. But Fordham couldn't avoid an avalanche of baskets tonight from George Washington as the Colonials handed the Rams a 72-52 Atlantic 10 setback at the Smith Center.
With the loss, the fourth straight for Fordham, the Rams fall to 6-7 overall, 0-2 in the Atlantic 10. George Washington picked up its fifth straight win to improve to 10-6 overall, 3-0 in the conference.
"I thought both teams played well defensively in the first half," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "The difference was that we weren't able to convert in the half and couldn't get out and score some easy baskets. They did and they did a good job showing us multiple defenses but we still had some good looks, we just couldn't knock them down."
The game was decided by two Colonial runs, a 7-0 spurt midway through the third that broke a 30-30 tie and a 10-0 run a few minutes later that turned a four-point lead into a 14-point George Washington advantage.
The Fordham offense had difficulties getting the ball inside for most of the game, shooting 28 three-pointers and attempting just nine free throws. The Rams shot a season-low 29.4% (20-68) in the game. Conversely, George Washington shot 24 charity shots, making 18, and connected on 53.6% of its shots from the field in the second half.
The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams with neither squad shooting over 33% in the period.
The game was tied three times over the first five minutes before the Colonials scored four straight to take a 12-8 lead with 12:53 left.
An Alberto Estwick three 32 seconds later trimmed the George Washington lead back to one and the Rams took a 19-17 lead on another Estwick three-pointer with just under five minutes remaining in the half.
A Nemanja Mikic layup knotted the game at 19 with 4:08 left but Brenton Butler untied the game for the Rams with a jumper a minute later. But the Colonials scored the final seven points of the half to take a 26-21 lead into the break.
The Rams opened the second half with a purpose as Chris Gaston tipped in his own miss, Kervin Bristol followed that basket with a dunk and Gaston nailed a jumper over the first 1:19 of the half as Fordham took a 27-26 lead.
Two minutes later the game was tied at 30 after a Butler free throw when George Washington netted seven straight points to take a 37-30 lead with 13:18 left.
The Rams managed to cut the Colonial lead back to four three times over the next 3:10, the final time at 43-39, following a Gaston three-point play with 13:10 remaining.
The Fordham offense then went cold as George Washington scored ten straight points to take a 53-39 lead with 8:45 left and the closest the Rams would get from that point was eight, 55-47, on a Gaston tip-in with 6:13 on the clock.
Gaston led Fordham with 14 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks while Estwick added 13 points and Frazier finished with nine.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday night, January 15th, as they travel down to Charlotte, N.C., to face the Charlotte 49ers in an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The win is George Washington's third straight over Fordham and the Colonials now lead the all-time series, 19-5... The loss extends the Rams' Atlantic 10 losing streak to 28 games dating back to 2009... The last Fordham conference win was a 67-65 victory over St. Bonaventure on January 28, 2009... Over the past two games the Rams are 7-15 from the charity stripe while their opponents are 28-39... Fordham's previous season-low in field goal percentage was 32.0% (16-50) versus Hampton... The 68 field goal attempts ties Fordham's season-high... The Rams were outrebounded 47-37... Gaston, who was one-for-six from the free throw line the previous two games was three-for-four tonight... Brenton Butler scored seven points to bring his career total to 1,336, placing him eleventh on the Fordham all-time scoring list... He is 36 points behind Bob Melvin (1968-71), for tenth on the career list... Former WFUV announcer and current host of ESPN's Around the Horn was in attendance.
