Box Score Dec. 29, 2012
Final Stats
Atlanta, Ga. -
Winning on the road is difficult, Winning on the road at an ACC school is very difficult, Winning on the road at an ACC school while playing three freshman, one redshirt freshman and one junior is almost impossible as the Fordham University men's basketball team found out tonight, falling to Georgia Tech, 73-48, in the McCamish Pavilion.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 3-10 on the year while Georgia Tech, winners of five straight, improve to 9-2.
After enjoying one of their best offensive efforts in an 81-75 win over Siena last Sunday where Fordham shot a season-high 58.5% from the field, the Rams were held to 48 points tonight, shooting a season-low 28.1% (16-57), including 21.1% (4-19) from behind the arc.
The game was made tougher for the Rams when senior Chris Gaston was forced to the bench with two fouls 3:33 into the game and he was joined there by sophomore Bryan Smith, who picked up his second just under two minutes later. That forced the Rams to go with a lineup of three freshmen (Travion Leonard, Mandell Thomas and Ryan Rhoomes), one redshirt freshman (Jeff Short) and one junior (Branden Frazier) which made the going rougher for the Rams.
Despite the inexperienced lineup, Fordham held its own over the first 15 minutes, taking a one-point lead three times over that stretch, the last at 14-13 following a Branden Frazier three-pointer with 8:09 left in the half.
A pair of Georgia Tech baskets over the next minute gave the Yellow Jackets a 17-14 lead before the Rams answered with a Thomas jumper with 6:36 on the clock to pull to within one, 17-16.
A pair of Daniel Miller free throws ten seconds later boosted the Yellow Jacket lead back to three before a Gaston dunk made it a one-point game again, 19-18, with 6:10 remaining in the first.
Georgia Tech then reeled off six straight points to take a 27-20 advantage on a Jason Morris three with 3:15 left before a pair of Gaston charity shots made it a 27-22 game 27 seconds later. But the Yellow Jackets closed out the half with an 8-3 run to take a ten-point lead at the break, 35-25.
After a Gaston layup 12 seconds into the second half made it an eight-point contest, a Brandon Reed trey gave Georgia Tech a 38-27 lead 1:16 into the period.
The Rams trailed by ten, 41-31, just over a minute later when Gaston scored four straight points to cut the Fordham deficit back to six, 41-35, with 16:47 remaining.
The Rams trailed by eight, 45-37, after a Frazier jumper with 14:24 left but that would be the last points for the Rams until a Frazier layup with 7:35 left as Georgia Tech scored 17 straight to take a commanding 62-39 lead.
Frazier led the Rams with 17 points, and he added five assists and four rebounds, while Gaston finished with 16 points and eight boards and Thomas chipped in with a season-high nine points.
The Rams return to action on Monday, December 31, as they host the Monmouth University Hawks in the Rose Hill Gym at 4:00 p.m.
Notes
Gaston's 16 points brings his career total to 1,520, moving him past Brenton Butler (2006-11) and into eighth place on the Fordham all-time scoring list... He is 167 points behind Ken Charles (1970-73) for seventh place... Gaston's eight rebounds bring his career total to 964, fifth all-time at Fordham... He is four rebounds behind Bill McCadney (1955-58) for fourth on the all-time rebounding list... Frazier has scored in double figures in five straight games and eleven times this season... He is averaging 18.8 ppg over the past four contests and a team-high 16.8 ppg on the year... Thomas's previous season-high in scoring was eight points which he did last Sunday vs. Siena... Rhoomes pulled down a season-best eight rebounds (his previous high was seven which he accomplished twice)... Freshman Nihad Musovic made his collegiate debut, pulling down three rebounds... The Rams and Yellow Jackets each grabbed 38 rebounds in the game with the Rams corralling 13 offensive boards... The game was just the third all-time in the state of Georgia for the Rams who are now 0-3 in the Peachtree state (0-2 at Georgia Tech and 0-1 at Kennesaw State)... Fordham is now 1-3 all-time against Georgia Tech.
