Box Score Feb. 20, 2011
Final Stats
Cincinnati, Ohio -
On a day when three nationally ranked teams fell to unranked teams, Fordham was looking to become the fourth as the Rams took on 24th-ranked Xavier University in an Atlantic 10 game in the Cintas Center on Saturday night. And the Rams gave the Musketeers all they could handle before coming up short at the end, falling to the host school, 79-72.
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 14th straight, the Rams fall to 6-18 overall, 0-12 in the Atlantic 10 while Xavier wins its fifth straight overall and 38th straight at home, to improve to 20-6 overall, 11-1 in the conference.
"I'm proud of the team and how they competed tonight," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. They continue to practice hard and work to get better and tonight they really stepped up. If we had the effort tonight in some of our other games this year we would have won those games."
The Rams entered the game with the plan of stopping Xavier from behind the arc and Fordham held the Musketeers to shooting 25.0% (4-16) from behind the arc. But the Rams allowed Xavier to shoot over 60% from inside the arc (23-38) which proved to be too much to overcome.
Fordham won the battle of the boards, especially in the second half. The Rams outrebounded Xavier 38-32 in the game, 24-13 in the second half when Fordham grabbed eleven offensive rebounds to score 12 second chance points.
The loss overshadowed strong games from Chris Gaston and Brenton Butler, who each recorded 20-point games. Gaston finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds for his second straight double-double and his 15th on the year. Butler connected on eight of his 14 shots, including 5-for-9 from long distance, to register 21 points.
Butler led a Fordham three-point barrage in the game as the Rams connected on ten of their 22 shots (45.5%) from behind the arc.
Fordham trailed by nine at the half, 39-30, but opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to cut the Xavier lead to four, 41-37, 1:45 into the half following an Alberto Estwick layup.
The Rams would get the Musketeer advantage down to four three more times over the next three minutes, the final time at 50-46 on an Estwick layup. After a Jamel McLean miss was rebounded by Gaston, the Rams controlled the boards, grabbing four offensive rebounds on the ensuing possession before Butler buried a three to pull Fordham to within one, 50-49, with 13:35 left.
Three Xavier free throws over the next minute pushed the Musketeer lead back to three, 53-49. Gaston then hit a jumper with 11:54 left and Butler nailed another three a minute later to give Fordham a 55-54 lead, the Rams' first lead of the half. But Mark Lyons drove the lane for a layup with 10:44 remaining to give Xavier a 56-55 advantage.
The Lyons layup started an 8-0 Xavier run as the Musketeers built the lead to seven, 61-54, with 8:46 left but a Butler trifecta made it a four-point game, 61-57, eleven seconds later.
The Rams would cut the Xavier lead to four again just over two minutes later,63-59, but four straight Musketeer points stretched the Xavier lead back to eight, 67-59, with 4:32 left.
An Estwick three with 4:07 remaining cut the Fordham deficit to five, 67-62, and the Rams trailed by six, 76-70, with 1:31 left but Fordham wouldn't score again until a Gaston layup with four seconds on the clock.
Fordham opened the game with a 7-2 lead three minute into the game before the Musketeers netted seven straight to take a 9-7 lead with 15:07 left in the half.
The game would be tied four times over the next 5:20, the last time at 18 on a Lamount Samuell three-pointer. A Jeff Robinson dunk put Xavier up two before Estwick answered with a three to give Fordham a one-point lead, 21-20, with 8:54 remaining.
Xavier used a 9-3 run over the next 4:51 to take a 30-23 lead with 4:03 left and built the lead to as many as 12 before the Rams cut it to nine at the intermission.
Estwick also finished in double figures for the Rams with 14 points while Kervin Bristol pulled down ten rebounds.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday night, February 23rd, as they travel to St. Bonaventure for an Atlantic 10 matchup at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The Rams have now dropped nine straight to Xavier and the Musketeers lead the all-time series, 21-3... Fordham has never defeated Xavier in Cincinnati... Fordham is now 184-189 all-time against fellow Jesuit schools... The loss extends Fordham's Atlantic 10 losing streak to 38 games dating back to 2009... The last Fordham conference win was a 67-65 victory at St. Bonaventure on January 28, 2009... Butler's 21 points brings his career total to 1,464, placing him in eighth place on the Fordham all-time scoring list... Butler's five three-pointers in the game to bring his career total to 220, good for third place on the Rams' career list... He is now 39 behind Marcus Stout for second place on the list... Gaston took all ten of Fordham's free throws, converting six... The double-double is Gaston's 34th in 52 career games... His 15 rebounds bring his career total to 586, moving him into 18th place on the Fordham all-time rebounding list... He is 25 behind Bob Melvin for 17th place... Kervin Bristol pulled down ten rebounds, his fifth straight double-digit rebounding game... He is averaging 11.0 rpg over the past five games and 10.3 rpg over the past seven... Bristol also blocked one shot to bring his total to 13 in the past four games and a team-high 41 on the season... He has blocked at least one shot in each of the seven games and in 18 of the 24 games this year.
