Box Score Feb. 13, 2011
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| NY Post Game Story
Bronx, N.Y. -
After experiencing one of the best twenty minutes of the year at Temple on Wednesday, cutting an 18-point halftime deficit to three in the second half, the Fordham men's basketball squad played the first half of today's Atlantic10 game with Saint Joseph's with the same energy. Unfortunately, the Rams couldn't keep match the first half vigor over the second twenty minutes as Fordham saw the Hawks erase a 12-point halftime deficit as the Rams fell to Saint Joseph's, 76-70, in the IZOD Center.
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's 13th straight, the Rams fall to 6-17 overall, 0-11 in the Atlantic 10 while Saint Joseph's improves to 7-17 overall, 2-8 in the conference.
"Since we're not accustomed to playing with a lead I told the team at halftime that we can't allow Saint Joseph's to come out and play harder than us in the second half," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "But I was not pleased with the defensive energy in the second half. We needed guys to step up and make plays."
The statistical discrepancy between the halves was dramatic for the Rams. Fordham scored 43 points in the first half, the most first half points this year, while shooting 51.7% (15-29), including 53.8% (7-13) from behind the arc, and holding the Hawks to shooting 35.5% (11-31). More importantly, the Rams protected the ball over the first 20 minutes, turning it over only three times. But in the second half, the Rams shot 31.0% (9-29) from the field while allowing the Hawks to connect on 60.0% (12-20) of their shots. Fordham also turned the ball over seven times in the period and Saint Joseph's took advantage of the miscues to score nine points.
Fordham sophomore forward Chris Gaston notched his Atlantic 10-leading 14th double-double in the game, scoring 14 points and grabbing ten rebounds and he dished out five assists. He now has 33 career double-doubles in 51 career games. His ten rebounds brings his career total to 571, placing him 19th on the Fordham all-time rebounding list in under two years.
Senior Brenton Butler also moved up a Fordham career list, scoring 17 points to bring his career total to 1,443, moving him ahead of Fred Herzog and Jean Prioleau and into eighth place on the Fordham all-time scoring list.
The first five minutes of the game was the Alberto Estwick show as he opened the day's scoring with a three-pointer just under a minute into the game and five minutes later he hit his fourth straight trifecta that, along with a Brenton Butler three, gave Fordham a 15-7 lead with 14:19 left in the half.
After a Carl Jones three-pointer trimmed the Fordham lead back to five with 13:47 remaining, the Rams used a 5-1 spurt to take a 20-11 lead on a Gaston three-point play two minutes later.
The Hawks outscored the Rams 5-1 over the next three minutes to cut the Fordham lead to five, 21-16, with 9:05 remaining, before the Rams scored the next five points on a Butler layup and a Branden Frazier three-pointer, to take a ten-point lead, 26-16, with 7:46 on the clock.
Saint Joseph's again got the Fordham lead down to five, 26-21, with 6:21 remaining but the Rams then exploded for eleven straight points to take their largest lead of the day, 37-21, on a pair of Frazier free throws, and Fordham took a 43-21 lead into the break.
Fordham came out in the second half and built the lead back to 16 twice over the first three minutes, the final time at 49-33 on a Gaston jumper with 17:05 left.
The Hawks would score eleven of the next 13 points in the game to pull to within seven, 51-44, with 13:47 remaining. After two Butler free throws a minute later pushed the Fordham lead up to nine, 53-44, Saint Joseph's used an 8-0 run to make it a one-point game, 53-52, following a C.J. Aiken free throw with eleven minutes left.
After a Gaston jumper with 10:08 remaining put Fordham up three, 55-52, the Hawks netted ten straight points to take a seven point lead, 62-55, following a Jones three-pointer with six minutes remaining.
The Hawks would get the lead to as many as nine, 67-58, before Fordham cut it down to three, 69-66, with an 8-2 run, capped by a Frazier three-pointer with 1:48 left. But that was as close as Fordham would get.
Butler and Frazier led the Rams with 17 points each, with each adding four assists, while Estwick netted 12 points on the four three-pointers.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday, February 19th, as they travel to Cincinnati, Ohio, to face the Xavier University Musketeers in an Atlantic 10 game at 8:00 p.m. The game between the two Jesuit schools will be one of more than 90 games played this season as part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight (JBS).
Notes
The Rams have now dropped five straight to Saint Joseph's and the Hawks lead the all-time series, 27-16... Fordham is now 184-188 all-time against fellow Jesuit schools... The loss extends Fordham's Atlantic 10 losing streak to 37 games dating back to 2009... The last Fordham conference win was a 67-65 victory at St. Bonaventure on January 28, 2009... Butler's 17 points brings his career total to 1,443, moving him ahead of Fred Herzog and Jean Prioleau and into eighth place on the Fordham all-time scoring list... Butler hit two three-pointers in the game to bring his career total to 215, moving him into third place on the Rams' career list, ahead of Jermaine Anderson (2002-06) and Bevon Robin (1997-2001)... He is now 44 behind Marcus Stout for second place on the list... Butler converted all seven of his free throws to bring his season free throw percentage to 82.2% (74-90)... Gaston's five assists was a season-high and just one shy of his career-high... Kervin Bristol pulled down ten rebounds, his fourth straight double-digit rebounding game... He is averaging 10.3 rpg over the past six games... Bristol also blocked three shots to bring his total to 12 in the past three games and 40 on the season... The Saint Joseph's bench outscored the Fordham bench 25-2 in the game... The Rams are now 11-14 all-time at the IZOD Center.
