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Albany, N.Y. (December 30, 2013) – After tonight's game, it wouldn't be a surprise if the Fordham University men's basketball team develops a case of triskaidekaphobia. In their 13
th game of the year and leading Siena by 13 points, 53-40, with under 13 minutes left, the Rams saw the Saints score 22 unanswered points and Fordham couldn't catch up, falling to Siena, 79-69, at the Times Union Center.
With the loss, the Rams, playing for the fourth time over the past nine days, fall to 7-6 on the year while Siena improves to 5-8.
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Jon Severe three-pointer with 12:06 left gave the Rams the 53-40 lead but the Fordham offense wouldn't score again until the 5:31 mark when
Mandell Thomas hit a layup to stop the 22-0 Saints' run to pull the Rams to within seven, 62-55.
Fordham got the deficit down to five twice over the next two minutes, the final time at 64-59 on a pair of Severe free throws with 3:44 left but the Rams would get no closer.
The game started off slowly on the offensive end for each squad, with Siena missing its first ten field goal attempts as the Rams took a five-point lead, 11-6 with 12:13 left in the half on a pair of
Bryan Smith free throws.
Fordham got the lead to as many as nine in the half, 22-13, on a Smith jumper with 7:49 on the clock and the Rams took a 34-27 lead at the break.
Siena opened the second half with a 7-1 run to cut the Fordham advantage to one, 35-34,following a Michael Wolfe jumper just under two minutes into the half but a Severe jumper and a
Chris Whitehead three-point play ignited an 18-6 Fordham run as the Rams took the 53-40 lead.
Mandell Thomas netted eight of the 18 Fordham points in the run.
Thomas led the Rams with 20 points, shooting 8-for-14 from the field, while Severe added 17, Frazier 13 and Smith finished with ten points and nine rebounds.
The Rams return to action when they open their Atlantic 10 schedule by traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Duquesne University Dukes on the A.J. Palumbo Center on Wednesday, January 8, at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
Frazier's 13 points bring his career total to 1,317, good for14th on the Fordham all-time scoring list… He is now six points behind Bob Melvin (1960-63) and Bill Langheld (1965-68)… Fordham's
Travion Leonard and Siena's Evan Hymes played tighter at Kestral Heights Charter School in North Carolina… The Rams had a season-high ten steals but hit a season-low three three-pointers… Fordham held Siena to shooting 28.6% (8-28) in the first half but then allowed the Saints to shoot 55.2% (16-29) in the second half... Fordham still leads the all-time series with Siena, 12-10.
