Box Score Jan. 6, 2011
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| Sean Brennan's NY Daily News article
East Rutherford, N.J. -
If a college basketball court is an extension of the classroom, the 2011 Fordham University Rams learned some valuable lessons tonight. Playing Temple University, the three-time defending Atlantic 10 champions, at the IZOD Center, the Rams saw that they can compete with the top of the league for stretches but to win a championship it takes a complete game as the Owls demonstrated in the 70-51 win over Fordham at the IZOD Center in the conference opener for both squads.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 6-7 overall while Temple improves to 10-3.
"Temple is a heck of a basketball team and we knew that coming into the game," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "I told the team that it was advantageous for us to play them in our first Atlantic 10 game because now we know what it takes to win a championship. I'm proud of our effort tonight but we hurt ourselves by not executing."
The Temple defense entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense, allowing just 59.8 points per game, and held Fordham's top two leading scorers, Brenton Butler and Chris Gaston, to eight points each. The Owls also controlled the boards, outrebounding the Rams 42-27, only the third time this year that Fordham has been outrebounded.
The Rams opened the game with a burst of energy, taking a quick 2-0 lead on a Branden Frazier jumper 24 seconds into the game before Temple scored six straight points to take a 6-2 lead on a Ramone Moore jumper two minutes later.
A Frazier three-pointer with 16:26 left in the half halted the Temple run and ignited a 9-2 Fordham spurt as the Rams took an 11-8 lead on back-to-back Butler threes with 15:21 remaining.
A Scootie Randall three-pointer knotted the game at 11 just 30 seconds later but the Rams then used an 8-2 run to go up 19-13 following an Alberto Estwick three-pointer with 12:10 left in the period.
Fordham would build the lead to as many seven, 23-16, on a Kervin Bristol jumper with 7:58 remaining and the Rams led by five, 25-20, two minutes later, but Temple closed out the half with a 15-2 run to take a 35-27 advantage into the intermission.
A Moore layup seven seconds into the second half put the Owls up ten, 37-27, before Frazier stole the ball and fed Gaston for a dunk 35 seconds later, making it an eight point game again.
The Temple offense then shifted into high gear, scoring 13 straight points to take a commanding 50-29 lead on a Michael Eric jumper with 15:37 remaining. The closest the Rams would get from that point would be 16, which they did twice the final time coming at 63-47 on a Rayner Moquete layup with 5:16 left.
Frazier led all scorers in the game with 16 points and he dished out four assists and had two steals while Gaston and Butler each added eight.
The Rams will have a week off before returning to action on Wednesday, January 12th, as they travel to Washington, D.C., to face George Washington University in an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The game was the first of four conference home games that the Rams will play at the IZOD Center this year... Fordham is now 11-12 all-time at the IZOD Center... Temple has won three straight over Fordham and lead the all-time series, 37-13... Butler's eight points brings his career total to 1,329, moving him into 11th place on the Fordham career scoring list, 43 points behind Charlie Yelverton (1968-71) for tenth place... He hit two three-pointers to bring his career total to 198, good for fourth place on the Fordham all-time list, 16 behind Bevon Robin (1997-2001) and Jermaine Anderson (2002-06) who are tied for third... The game marked the Fordham debut of freshman guard Lamount Samuell, who was cleared by the NCAA on Monday and practiced with the team for the first time yesterday... He finished with two points, two steals and one assist... Gaston recorded a season-low five rebounds, only the third time this year he failed to recorded double figures in rebounding... The Rams recorded a season-high 12 steals (the previous high was ten against Kennesaw State)... Both teams had an assistant coach named David Duke on the bench.
