Box Score Jan. 11, 2012
Final Stats
Philadelphia, Pa. -
When the Fordham men's basketball team emerged from Saint Joseph's Michael J. Hagen Arena on Wednesday night it almost seemed appropriate that it was raining. Because for the previous two hours the Rams saw the Hawks rain three-pointers, connecting for 12 in the game, as Saint Joseph's upended Fordham, 80-62, in an Atlantic 10 matchup.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 7-9 overall, 0-3 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's improves to 12-4 overall, 2-1 in the conference. The game is just one of more than 100 games this season between teams from the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities across the United States. Each of the 28 is dedicated to strong academics and teaching women and men to serve others and live a faith that does justice.
Branden Frazier paced the Fordham offense, matching his season-high with 22 points, and he added three assists, while Chris Gaston finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. But the Rams had problems navigating the Hawks' defense, especially around the basket. Saint Joseph's entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 and ranking second in the NCAA with 8.5 blocks per game and Hawks swatted ten Fordham shots tonight, as well as altering numerous others, as the Rams shot 33.8% (22-65) from the field.
The Rams jumped out to a 5-0 lead with all five points coming from Kervin Bristol who hit a layup and then converted a three-point play in the first two minutes of action. But Saint Joseph's answered with a 15-3 run over the next six minutes to take a 15-8 lead on a Ronald Roberts dunk with 12:18 left in the first. Gaston was forced to the bench during the run as he picked up his second foul at the 12:51 mark.
The Fordham defense dug in over the next six minutes as the Rams outscored the Hawks 11-6 to cut the deficit to two, 21-19, following a Frazier three-pointer with just over six minutes left in the half. Bryan Smith scored six points in the Fordham run, hitting a pair of three-pointers, while Frazier accounted for the other five.
Fordham trailed by two again, 23-21, after a Marvin Dominique jumper with 4:59 remaining but Saint Joseph's closed out the half with an 11-3 spurt to take a 34-24 lead into the break.
Early in the second half a Frazier basket pulled the Rams to within ten again, 38-28, before the Hawks went on a 12-3 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 50-31, on a Langston Galloway free throw with 13:47 remaining.
The Fordham offense then came alive, scoring 16 of the next 23 points in the game to cut the Hawks' lead to ten, 57-47, on a Frazier three-pointer with 7:38 on the clock. Frazier netted eight in the run while Gaston added six.
A little over three minutes later, a Gaston jumper pulled the Rams to within nine, 65-56, but that was as close as they would get as a pair of Carl Jones free throws and a Galloway three-pointer bumped the Saint Joseph's lead up to 14, 70-56, with 2:26 left.
Bristol finished with a career-high 12 points and nine rebounds for the Rams while Smith added eight points and seven rebounds.
The Rams will have a week off before returning to action on Wednesday, January 18th, by hosting the University of Rhode Island Rams in an Atlantic 10 contest in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Gaston's 15 points brings his career total to 1,209, placing him 19th on the Fordham all-time scoring list... He is nine points behind Jason Harris (1997-201) for 18th place... Gaston has netted double figures in scoring in 15 of the 16 games this year... Gaston's seven rebounds bring his career total to 811, moving him ahead of Darryl Brown (1972-75) and into sixth place on the Fordham all-time rebounding list... Bristol's nine rebounds bring his rebounding average over the past 13 games to 8.8 rpg... Bristol also blocked one shot in the game to bring his team-leading total to 36 on the year... Frazier's 22 points matched his season-high set last game against Xavier... He is averaging 21.0 ppg over the past three games... The 12 three-pointers by Saint Joseph's is the most for a Fordham opponent this year, surpassing the eleven hit by Colgate... The Rams committed a season-low four turnovers and outrebounded the Hawks, 44-35, including 18-7 on the offensive boards... Neither team shot free throws all that well with the Rams converting 50.0% (13-26) of their charity shots and the Hawks 56.3% (18-32)... New York Representative Peter King sat behind the Fordham bench with his high school classmate, Tom Dewey, Fordham's head track and field/cross country coach... Villanova head coach Jay Wright stopped by the Fordham pregame meal to wish Fordham head coach Tom Pecora good luck... Pecora served as an assistant to Wright at Hofstra for seven years... For the second time in the past three games Pecora coached against a former player... Tonight it was Saint Joseph's Halil Kanacevic, who played as a freshman for Pecora at Hofstra in 2009-10 before transferring to Saint Joseph's last year.
