Box Score Feb. 5, 2011
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Bronx, N.Y. -
Fordham fans are familiar with a player by the name of Kevin Anderson, a point guard who wore number 14 or the Rams from 2004 through 2008. But they didn't recognize the Kevin Anderson on the floor of the Rose Hill Gym today. Despite wearing the same number Fordham's version, this Kevin Anderson was dressed in the blue uniform of the University of Richmond. Fordham fans won't forget the latest version of Kevin Anderson as he scored all 14 of his points in the first half to help the Spiders build a 41-25 halftime lead en route to a 77-60 Atlantic 10 win over the Rams.
With the loss, Fordham's eleventh straight, the Rams fall to 6-15 overall, 0-9 in the Atlantic 10, while Richmond improves to 18-6 overall, 7-2 in the conference.
"With Marvin Dominique and Lamount Samuell out, we were undermanned today," said head coach Tom Pecora. "And Branden Frazier still isn't one hundred percent. But Richmond is a good team with great scoring balance who did a good job on the boards against us."
The Rams were without the services of Samuell and Dominique due to injuries suffered by the freshmen at Rhode Island on Wednesday. According to Pecora, Dominique's injury will require surgery which will cause him to miss the rest of the season while Samuell's injury will keep him out an undetermined amount of time. Frazier is still getting over the flu that caused him to miss the Rhode Island game.
The Rams knew they would have their work cut out for them today, facing one of the best offensive and defensive teams in the Atlantic 10. Richmond entered the game leading the conference in offensive and defensive field goal shooting percentage, shooting 47.8% from the field while holding its opponents to shooting 39.9%, a bad omen for the Rams who had not shot over 40% from the field in their five previous games, including a season-low 29.1% on Wednesday at Rhode Island. But Fordham connected on 43.5% (23-53) of its shots today, including 48.1% (13-27) in the second half, while the Spiders shot 45.5% (30-66) but only 38.9% (14-36) in the second stanza.
Sophomore Chris Gaston notched his Atlantic 10-leading 13th double-double in the game, scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, both game-highs. He now has 32 career double-doubles in 49 career games.
Fordham jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a Brenton Butler three-pointer just over a minute into the game but Richmond scored the next nine points to take a 9-3 lead following an Anderson layup with 15:29 left in the half.
A Frazier three-pointer cut the Richmond advantage back to four, 11-7, just over a minute later when the Spiders went on a 20-4 run to take a 31-11 lead with 8:15 remaining in the half.
Gaston scored the final four points of the half for the Rams to make it a 16-point game at the break, 41-25, and Fordham opened the second half with a 6-2 spurt, with four of those points from Gaston, to pull to within 12, 43-31, just under four minutes into the second half.
Fordham would trail by 12 twice more over the next two minutes, the final time at 48-36, with 14:02 left but an 8-3 Richmond run helped the Spiders build a 56-39 advantage with 11:19 remaining and the closest the Rams would get from that point would be 12, 62-50, on an
Alberto Estwick trifecta with 5:26 left.
Butler added 16 points and five assists for the Rams while Frazier finished with eleven points and Kervin Bristol pulled down eleven rebounds, his second straight double-digit rebounding game, while scoring six points and blocking five shots.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday night, February 9th, as they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Temple University Owls, three-time defending Atlantic 10 champions, in the Liacouras Center at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
The loss is Fordham's fourth straight to Richmond and the Spiders now lead the all-time series, 9-7... The loss extends Fordham's Atlantic 10 losing streak to 35 games dating back to 2009... The last Fordham conference win was a 67-65 victory at St. Bonaventure on January 28, 2009... Butler's 16 points brings his career total to 1,416, tenth on the on the Fordham all-time scoring list... He is 19 points behind Fred Herzog (1987-93) for ninth on the career list... Butler hit three three-pointers to bring his career total to 212, fourth on the Fordham all-time list... He is two behind Jermaine Anderson (2002-06) and Bevon Robin (1997-2001) for third on the career list... After outrebounding their opponents the past three games, the Rams were outrebounded 38-33 today... Gaston and Bristol accounted for 24 of Fordham's 33 rebounds... Bristol is averaging 8.8 rpg over the past six games... His five blocks ties his season-high... The two teams observed a moment of silence prior to the game in memory of Jamie and Paige Malone, former University of Richmond students who passed away tragically in an accident on Long Island on July 15, 2010... The five newest Fordham Athletic Hall of Famers were introduced at halftime... The Rams hosted almost 100 children from the New York Athletic Club's Saturday Morning Program prior to the game.
