Box Score Feb. 11, 2012
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Media Links: Fordham loses to Dayton in overtime (N.Y. Post) | Despite Close Losses, Fordham Still Improving (A Daly Dose of Hoops)
Bronx, N.Y. -
It was Fordham Basketball Alumni Day today with former players from all eras coming back to the Rose Hill Gym. The returning players felt a familiar vibe in the sold out Rose Hill Gym, especially those from the vaunted 1970-71 team that went 26-3 and finished the year ranked eighth in the nation, who would routinely play in front of a raucous home crowd. The current Rams gave the crowd and alumni plenty to cheer about today before coming up short, falling to the University of Dayton, 72-70, in overtime in an Atlantic 10 contest.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 9-14 overall, 2-8 in the Atlantic 10, while Dayton snaps a four-game losing streak and improves to 15-9 overall, 5-5 in the conference.
"Once we got to overtime I had great concerns because they're a veteran team," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "They're playing with juniors and seniors on the floor and we're playing with young guys and, generally, that's the difference down the stretch."
Fordham was led by 23 points and eight rebounds from Chris Gaston while Kervin Bristol notched his second double-double of the year, netting eleven points and grabbing 14 rebounds while also blocking three shots. Devon McMillan, who missed the morning shoot around due to illness, added 16 points for the Rams.
One of the Fordham game goals was to make more free throws than Dayton and another was to outrebound the Flyers by eight. But the Rams came up short on both counts as Dayton outscored Fordham 22-10 at the charity stripe and outrebounded Fordham 44-42.
"Kervin Bristol was a force with his double-double," said Pecora. "But one of our goals was to keep them off the boards, especially (Chris) Johnson, and we weren't able to handle him. The kid is a big-time athlete and we didn't do a good job putting a body on him."
The Rams had a chance to win it in regulation after Kevin Dillard tied the game at 63 on a driving layup with 19 seconds left. Following a Fordham timeout with 14 seconds left, McMillan took the ball and drove into the lane but his jumper bounced off the front of the rim and out, forcing overtime.
A McMillan three eleven seconds into the overtime put the Rams up 66-63 but Chris Johnson answered with a trifecta for the Flyers just eight seconds later.
A Branden Frazier jumper with 3:54 remaining was answered by a pair of Johnson free throws 24 seconds later as Dayton tied the game for the ninth and final time. Just over a minute later, Luke Fabrizius converted two charity shots to give the Flyers the lead, 70-68, as the Fordham offense went cold, and Parker netted two more free throws for Dayton with 1:01 left to give Dayton a 72-68 lead.
A pair of Bryan Smith free throws with 53 seconds remaining cut the Fordham deficit to two before Bristol blocked a Dillard layup with 23 seconds on the clock and the ball was rebounded by Smith.
The Rams worked the ball to Frazier who missed a jumper with five seconds on the clock but Johnson was called for traveling on the rebound and the Rams had one last chance for the tie with 3.5 second left. But the inbounds pass deflected off the foot of a Flyer and out to half court as time expired.
After opening their last home game with slowly, the Rams came out with energy today, outscoring the Flyers 13-2 over the first five minutes, led by four points from Bristol.
Fordham led by nine later in the half, 17-8, following a Gaston jumper when Dayton used an 8-2 spurt to make it a three-point game, 19-16, with 7:44 left in the period.
The Rams built the lead back to seven, 29-22, with 4:23 remaining but Dayton closed out the half with a 10-2 run, including a Ralph Hill three-pointer at the buzzer, to take a 32-31 advantage into the break.
The second half opened with two ties, the final at 35-35 with 18:40 left after a pair of Johnson free throws. A Smith three-pointer ten seconds later put the Rams up and Fordham would hold the lead until a Johnson layup with 8:09 remaining knotted the game at 49.
Parker followed the Johnson basket with a three-pointer as the Flyers took their first lead of the second half, 52-49, with 7:36 left but the Rams battled back to tie the game at 55 on a Bristol jumper two minutes later.
Another Smith three-pointer gave the Rams a 58-55 lead and Fordham would get the advantage to four, 63-59, on yet another Smith three with 2:25 remaining.
But the Rams wouldn't score again in regulation and Dayton used a Johnson layup with 1:20 left and the Dillard layup with 19 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Smith also finished in double figures for the Rams with 14 points and he dished out four assists, tying his season-high.
The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday night, February 15th as they travel to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne University in an Atlantic 10 matchup at 7:00 pm.
Notes
It was the first overtime game for Fordham since the Rams fell to Saint Louis on the road on February 20, 2008... Gaston's 23 points brings his career total to 1,311, placing him in 14th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list... He is 12 points behind Bob Melvin (1960-63), who was at today's game, and Bill Langheld (1965-68) for 12th place... Gaston's eight rebounds bring his career total to 858, placing him in sixth place on the Fordham all-time rebounding list... He is 59 behind John Stevens (1962-65) for fifth place... Gaston now has six 20-point games this year and 23 in his career... Bristol's previous double-double was an eleven-point, 12-rebound game at UMass... His three blocks bring his team-leading season total to 55... Bristol is averaging 8.1 rpg over the past 12 games... Frazier, who also missed the morning shoot around due to illness, played 44 of the 45 minutes... The Rams committed only seven turnovers in the game... Dayton has won the past six meetings and now leads the all-time series, 22-5... Fordham is now 1-8 in games played on Saturdays in 2011-12.
