March 2, 2011

Philadelphia, Pa. - Game Notes | WFUV Audio | GameTracker | Live Video | Follow on Twitter

The Fordham University men's basketball team closes out its Atlantic 10 road season tonight in Philadelphia as the Rams take on the La Salle University Explorers at 7:00 PM in the Tom Gola Arena. Follow the game live on your computer by clicking on the links above.

The Rams enter the game with a 6-20 overall record, 0-14 in the conference, following a 90-58 Atlantic 10 loss to the University of Rhode Island in the IZOD Center on Saturday. The Rams are looking to snap a 16-game losing streak as well as a 40-game Atlantic 10 losing streak dating back to 2009 (the last Fordham conference win was at St. Bonaventure in 2009). La Salle enters the game with a 13-16 overall record, 5-9 in the A-10 after a 72-51 conference win at home over Massachusetts on Sunday.

Fordham will be guided into the game by first-year head coach Tom Pecora, who arrived at Rose Hill in March after nine successful seasons as the head coach at Hofstra where he averaged 20 wins during the past six years.

On the court, Fordham is led by sophomore Chris Gaston and senior Brenton Butler. Gaston has posted a double-double in 15 of the 26 games this year and is averaging 15.7 ppg and 11.0 rpg. He leads the Atlantic 10 and is ranked sixth in the nation in rebounding. Butler is second on the team and is ranked 13th in the Atlantic 10, averaging 14.2 ppg, and he also lead the squad with 88 assists. He is currently eighth on the Fordham all-time scoring list with 1,482 points.

THE LA SALLE SERIES: Wednesday night's contest will be the 44th meeting between Fordham and La Salle on the hardwood...The Explorers lead the all-time series, which started in the 1953-54 season, 30-13...La Salle has taken the past three meetings, including an 80-73 win on the Rose Hill Gym last January 27th as Aaric Murray netted 24 points and Jerrell Williams added 19... Las Salle also won the 2008-09 meeting, 79-59, on March 4th in the Gola Arena as Kimmani Barrett scored 19 points and Rodney Green added 16...The Explores took the 2007-08 match-up, 83-78, in the Rose Hill Gym on February 27th as Green finished with 19 points and Jerrell Williams added 14...Prior to that win, Fordham had taken three straight and four of the previous five...Fordham took the 2006-07 match-up, 62-54, on January 27th in Philadelphia as Marcus Stout scored 20 points and Kevin Anderson added 15... Fordham is 8-11 against La Salle since joining the Atlantic 10...Prior to joining the Atlantic 10, the two teams were members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) from 1983-90...La Salle has won 14 of the 15 games played in Philadelphia and ten of the 19 played in the Rose Hill Gym...The Explorers have won four of the seven games played on a neutral court...The longest winning streak is a La Salle nine-game streak from 1986-87 until 1989-90...The largest margin of victory for La Salle was 26 (98-72 on March 5, 1990)...The largest margin of victory for Fordham was 16 (70-54 on December 21, 1986).

WHO'S HOT: Sophomore forward Chris Gaston has 15 double-doubles on the year, his most recent a 26-point, 15-rebound game at Xavier last Saturday night, his 34th career double-double... He followed that with 11 points and nine rebounds at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday and then ten points and nine boards against Rhode Island on Saturday... Gaston is averaging 17.7 ppg and 10.1 rpg over his past seven games... His 15 double-doubles are the most for an Atlantic 10 player this year and 14th most in the NCAA Division I... Gaston leads the Atlantic 10 and is sixth in the nation in rebounding with an 11.0 rpg average while he also leads the Rams and is ninth in the A-10 in scoring with a 15.7 ppg average... He sits in 18th place on the Fordham all-time rebounding list with 604 career rebounds... Junior guard Alberto Estwick netted a career-high 21 points at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, shooting 9-for-14 from the field, including 3-for-6 from behind the arc, and he added five rebounds... He is averaging 14.0 ppg and 5.3 rpg over the past four games... Redshirt senior guard Brenton Butler has netted double figures in 18 of the 25 games he has played in this year, including netting 12 against Rhode Island on Saturday... He has also surpassed the 20-point mark five times this year, including a season-high 28 points in the loss at Santa Clara... Butler, who is now eighth on the Fordham all-time scoring list with 1,482 points, is averaging 14.1 ppg, second best on the team and 13th best in the Atlantic 10, while also leading the squad with 88 assists... Freshman guard Branden Frazier has his collegiate career off to a good start, averaging 11.8 ppg, third best on the squad, including scoring 17 versus Saint Joseph's and ten against Rhode Island... He has scored in double figures in eight of the last ten games he has appeared in... Frazier leads the team and is sixth in the Atlantic 10 with 54 three-pointers made... Junior forward Kervin Bristol grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked two shots in the Rhode Island game... He is averaging 10.4 rpg over the past seven and 10.0 rpg over the past nine games and has blocked 17 shots in the last six contests.

GASTON CLIMBING CAREER REBOUND LIST: In just two years, sophomore forward Chris Gaston has already moved into the top 20 all-time rebounders in Fordham history with 604 career boards. The 604 rebounds puts him in 18th place, seven behind Bob Melvin (1960-63) for 17th place.

Ed Conlin (1951-55) is Fordham's all-time rebounding leader with 1,930 career boards, almost 900 more than Dan Lyons (1951-55), who is in second place with 1,049.