Box Score Jan. 23, 2013
Final Stats
Dayton, Ohio -
It was snowing outside when the Fordham team bus pulled up to the University of Dayton Arena tonight but once inside, the Rams experienced a rain of three-pointers as the University of Dayton tied a school record with 15 long distance shots, handing the Rams a 96-51 Atlantic loss.
With the loss, the Rams fall to 5-14 overall, 1-3 in the conference, while Dayton improves to 11-7 overall, 1-3 in the A-10.
The artic temperatures outside didn't seem to have much of an effect on Dayton's shooting tonight as the Flyers shot over 57% in the game, including 65% in the first half when they built a large lead, and a sizzling 71.4% (15-21) from behind the three-point line.
The Rams were playing without second leading scorer and leading rebounder, Chris Gaston, who was back in the Bronx with an injury. The Rams missed his rebounding presence as Fordham was outrebounded, 37-28 in the game, the first conference game this year they have been outrebounded.
The game was even over the first two minutes with the Rams knotting the score at five on a Mandell Thomas jumper before an 11-3 Dayton run helped the Flyers take a 16-8 lead with 15:38 on the clock.
A Travion Leonard jumper eleven seconds later pulled the Rams within six, 16-10, but the Flyers maintained the hot hand, hitting three straight field goals - two of those three-pointers, to build the lead to 12, 26-14, before a Leonard dunk made it a ten-point game, 26-16, with 10:57 left in the half.
The Flyers reeled off eleven straight points to take a 37-16 lead with 7:55 left and Dayton would get the lead to as many as 29 at the break, 52-23.
Fordham head coach Tom Pecora switched things up to open the second half, sending out Jermaine Myers, Jeff Short, Khalid Robinson, Ryan Rhoomes and Leonard to start the period and they responded by opening the second twenty minutes with an 11-2 spurt to make it a 54-34 game on a pair of Short free throws 3:46 into the half.
The Rams trailed by 20 again, 59-39, two minutes later, when the Flyers netted 15 straight points, nine coming on three-pointers, to take a commanding 74-39 lead with 10:24 remaining.
Short led the Rams with 13 points, shooting four-for-six from the field, while Rhoomes added seven points and seven rebounds and Leonard finished with six points and five rebounds.
The Rams return to action on Saturday, January 26, as they host the University of Rhode Island in an Atlantic 10 contest at 1:00 PM. The game, which will be part of Hall of Fame weekend, will be televised live on the YES Network.
Notes
Jared Fay netted a career-high five points on a reverse layup and a three-pointer and he grabbed two rebounds... Fordham leading scorer Branden Frazier was held to five points, just the fourth time in 19 games this year he didn't break double figures... The Rams have now dropped seven straight to the Flyers... The 96 points scored by Dayton was a season-high for a Fordham opponent as was the 35 field goals made and 15 three-pointers made.
