Box Score Nov. 27, 2011
Final Stats
Bronx, N.Y. -
The Fordham men's basketball squad had its shot(s) to beat Loyola University tonight but unfortunately for the Rams, not many of them went in. The Rams shot a season-low 27.7% from the field in falling, 64-50, to the Ramblers in the Gentile Arena in the first ever meeting between the two Jesuit schools.
The game between the two Jesuit schools is one of more than 90 games played this season as part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight (JBS).
With the loss, Fordham falls to 1-2 on the year while Loyola picks up its first win and is now 1-4.
"They brought the fight to us and we were chasing them uphill all the way," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "We had that run to open the second half but couldn't take the lead. It all comes down to us having to take care of the basketball and make shots."
Chris Gaston led the Rams with his second straight double-double, netting 19 points and adding ten rebounds, both game-highs, and he also blocked a career-best six shots.
Trailing 34-25 at the half, the Rams opened the second half with a determined defensive effort, and Fordham was able to convert defensive stops into baskets, opening the second twenty minutes with a seven unanswered points to cut the deficit to two, 34-32, on a Gaston jumper 2:45 into the period.
After that opening spurt, the Fordham offense again went cold as Loyola responded with a 10-3 spurt to build the lead back to nine, 44-35, with 12:44 remaining.
The Ramblers got the lead up to ten, 47-37, with 11:33 left before the Rams whittled away at the Loyola advantage, scoring five straight points on a Branden Frazier three-point play and a Bryan Smith layup to make it a 47-42 game just 27 seconds later.
Fordham would get the lead down to five again about four minutes later, 52-47, following a Devon McMillan free throw but the Ramblers scored the next nine points to take a commanding 61-47 lead with 4:21 left, their biggest lead of the night, and the closest the Rams would get from there was eleven, 61-50, on a Smith layup with 2:43 left.
Loyola took advantage of Fordham's cold shooting to open the game, jumping out to a 13-3 lead over the first seven minutes and the Ramblers increased the lead to as many as 13, 22-9, with 8:21 left in the first.
The Fordham offense then got into gear, using an 8-2 run to cut the Loyola lead to seven, 24-17, after Gaston sank a pair of free throws three minutes later.
The Ramblers bumped the lead back to ten, 30-20, with 3:52 left but jumpers from Gaston and McMillan and a Frazier free throw trimmed Loyola's advantage to five, 30-25, with 2:12 remaining in the half, before the Ramblers closed out the period with four straight points to take the 34-25 lead at the intermission.
McMillan and Smith eached finished with nine points for the Rams while Frazier added seven.
The Rams will return to action on Tuesday, November 29th, as they host the Colgate Raiders in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The game marked the first Fordham appearance in the Windy City since the Rams faced DePaul on February 7, 1990 (DePaul hosted Fordham in the 2001 preseason NIT but that game was played in Rockford, Ill., due to the circus taking over the Blue Demons home arena)... Fordham is now 184-190 all-time against fellow Jesuits schools... Gaston's double-double was the 38th of his career at Fordham... His previous career-high for blocks was five, which he did three times, the last at St. Bonaventure on February 10, 2010... Gaston's 19 points bring is career total to 997, good for 35th on the Rams' all-time scoring list... He will become the 34th played in school history to surpass the 1,000-point mark... Gaston's ten rebounds brings his career rebounding total to 661, good for 13th on the Fordham all-time list, 14 behind Danny O'Sullivan for 12th place... The Rams recorded nine steals in the game, the first time this season they haven't registered double digits in steals, and forced 18 turnovers... Fordham outrebounded the Ramblers, 40-34... Fordham all-time leader in career wins as head coach (and former Chicago Bulls assistant coach under Phil Jackson), John Bach, attended the game and spoke at a Fordham pre-game reception... The game featured three warnings of three different varieties: a delay of game warning for the Rams, a warning to Loyola head coach Porter Moser for being out of the coach's box and a resumption of play warning to the Ramblers, who were late getting back on the court after calling a time out.
