Box Score
Syracuse, N.Y. (November 12, 2013) - It's hard to take away positives from a 15-point defeat but the Fordham University men's basketball team found some tonight in an 89-74 loss to #9 Syracuse University in the Carrier Dome, the biggest is that there's no quit in the Rams, who trailed by as many as 27 early in the second half before pulling to within 12 at one point.
The comeback attempt was fueled by senior guard
Branden Frazier, who netted a game and career-high 33 points, shooting 9-for-14 from the field, including 4-for-6 from behind the arc.
"We seemed to get more comfortable attacking the zone in the second half," said Fordham head coach
Tom Pecora. "I think it was part that and part Syracuse relaxing a little with the big lead. But we gave up too many easy baskets in the first half and couldn't get ourselves out of that hole."
The Rams trailed by 25 at the break, 46-21, and the Orange bumped the lead to 27 three times over the first four minutes of the second half, the last at 58-31 on a C.J. Fair jumper with 16:04 left.
Syracuse held a 25-point lead 74-49 with 9:10 left when a Frazier three-pointer ignited a 9-1 Fordham run with all nine Ram points coming on threes (
Mandell Thomas and
Jon Severe had the other long distance shots) as Fordham got the deficit down to 17, 75-58, with 6:41 remaining.
The Orange led 18, 78-60, just over a minute later but the Rams responded with six unanswered points to make it a 12-point game, 78-66, at the 3:33 mark. Frazier netted the first of the six points with a jumper while
Ryan Rhoomes added a basket and a pair of free throws.
But that was as close as the Rams would get as the Orange netted the next seven points to get the lead to 19, 85-66, with 2:20 left.
The Rams were cold in the first half, shooting just 28.6% (6-21) from the field, including 16.7% (2-12) from behind the arc. It was a total reversal in the second half as Fordham shot 55.6% (15-27), 60.0% (9-15) from three-point land, while Syracuse shot 37.1% (13-35) from the field and were held scoreless in nine shots from long distance over the final 20 minutes.
Severe added 19 points for the Rams, hitting four three-pointers, while Thomas added ten points and eight rebounds while dishing out seven assists.
The Rams return to action on Friday night, November 15, as they host the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Frazier's previous career-high was 26 against UConn last December… The 33 points brings Frazier's career total to 1,120, moving him ahead of Damon Lopez (1988-91) and John Brady (1956-59) and into 23
rd place on the Fordham all-time scoring list, eight points behind John Stevens (1962-65) for 22
nd… Thomas's previous career-best in assists was five, which he did twice, the last at Xavier last February… The Rams recorded 16 assists on 21 baskets… Fordham was outrebounded by Syracuse, 48-39… The announced crowd of 22,667 was the second largest crowd to see a Fordham men's basketball game… The largest crowd was the last time Fordham visited the Carrier Dome (2011) when 22,907 people were in the stands… The Orange have now taken four straight from the Rams and lead the all-time series, 28-16.
