Men's Basketball Comes Up Short Against St. Bonaventure

Jan. 29, 2011

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Bronx, N.Y. - It's been a while since the Fordham University men's basketball squad played an afternoon game which may have been the reason the Rams got off to a slow start against St. Bonaventure today. Trailing by 16 at the half, Fordham mounted a strong second half effort but came up short, falling to the Bonnies, 69-60, in an Atlantic 10 contest before a sold out crowd in the Rose Hill Gym.

With the loss, Fordham's ninth straight, the Rams fall to 6-13 overall, 0-7 in the Atlantic 10, while St. Bonaventure improves to 12-10 overall, 3-4 in the conference.

"The good thing about today's game was that we saw some life from out younger guys," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "Hopefully that's something we can build off. But it was a great atmosphere today with the building packed, and the Fordham student section was awesome. Their support is very important to us."

Even though the court is 94 feet long, it became a 15-foot game today. That's the distance from the free throw line to the basket which was important because St. Bonaventure attempted 41 free throws to nine for the Rams. The Bonnies made 26 of their attempts, outscoring the Rams 26-5 from the charity stripe.

The Rams were whistled for 28 fouls in the game and saw three players foul out, including their top two scorers: Chris Gaston and Brenton Butler. Before fouling out, Gaston notched his second straight double-double with eleven points and eleven rebounds and Butler finished with a team-high 15 points, hitting five three-pointers. The double-double was Gaston's Atlantic 10-leading 12th of the year and the 31st of his career.

Despite the discrepancies in the fouls, the Rams battled back from the 16-point halftime deficit to tie the game at 42 midway through the second half but they couldn't take the lead.

Trailing 36-20 at the break, the Rams opened the second half with an 18-3 run, led by five points from Kervin Bristol and four each from Branden Frazier and Gaston, to make it a one-point game, 39-38, with 11:54 left following a Butler three-pointer.

Ogo Adegboye followed his missed three with a rebound and a layup, being fouled in the act and converting the three-point play, to put St. Bonaventure up four, 42-38, twenty seconds later.

Gaston answered with a jumper and then blocked a Da'Quan Cook shot that he converted into a layup to tie the game at 42 with 10:50 remaining.

Three Demitrius Conger free throws over the next 43 seconds gave the Bonnies a 45-42 lead but a Marvin Dominique steal and layup with 9:21 left pulled the Rams to within one, 45-44.

Chris Gaston

After a Conger three put St. Bonaventure up 48-44, Lamount Samuell cut the Fordham deficit back to two with a basket with 8:39 left on the clock.

A Michael Davenport jumper started a 6-0 St. Bonaventure run as the Bonnies took a 54-46 lead with six minutes left before the Rams used a 5-1 spurt to make it a 55-51 game following a Butler three-pointer with 4:42 remaining. But that was as close as the Rams would get as Davenport hit a three with 1:44 left to extend the Bonnies' lead to eight, 59-51.

After the Bonnies opened the game with a 9-3 lead, a pair of Butler threes tied the game at nine with 12:13 left in the half.

The Rams trailed by four later in the half, 17-14, but St. Bonaventure outscored Fordham 19-6 over the final eight minutes to take the 36-20 halftime lead.

Frazier also scored in the double figures for the Rams with eleven while Samuell added eight rebounds and five assists and Bristol had eight rebounds and five points.

The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, February 2nd, as they travel to Kingston, R.I., to face the University of Rhode Island in an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 p.m.

Notes The Bonnies have now taken three straight from the Rams and lead the all-time series, 17-14... The loss extends Fordham's Atlantic 10 losing streak to 32 games dating back to 2009... The last Fordham conference win was a 67-65 victory at St. Bonaventure on January 28, 2009... Fordham's last home conference win was also over St. Bonaventure, 69-62, on March 8, 2008... Butler's 15 points brings his career total to 1,395, placing him in tenth place on the on the Fordham all-time scoring list... He is 40 points behind Fred Herzog (1987-93) for ninth on the career list... Butler's five three-pointers brings his career total to 208, fourth on the Fordham all-time list... He is six behind Jermaine Anderson (2002-06) and Bevon Robin (1997-2001) for third on the career list... Frazier did not connect on a three-pointer for the first time all season... Despite being outrebounded 22-13 at the half, the Rams finished the game with 42 rebounds, 17 offensive, to 40 for the Bonnies... The Rams attempted a season-high 72 shots in the game... The 41 St. Bonaventure free throws is a season-high for a Fordham opponent this year... It was Alumni Day for the Rams who saw 17 former players honored at halftime (Bill Anton, Steve Breen, Dave Buckner, Kenny Charles, Sherwin Content, Ken Crusius, Mike Fitzgerald, Dan McCabe, Andre McClendon, Danny O'Sullivan, Fred Quartlebaum, Bevon Robin, Goran Skoko, Herb Tanner, T.K. Tripucka, Tom Wingertzhan and George Zambetti) along with former volunteer strength coach Ed Roh.