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Bronx, N.Y. (December 4, 2013) – Before tonight's game with Furman University, Fordham head coach
Tom Pecora turned to sophomore forward
Ryan Rhoomes and simply said "Get 20 rebounds tonight." Whether it was the new sneakers he was wearing or the request of his coach, Rhoomes went out and tried his best, finishing with 15 points, shooting 7-for-8 from the field, and 14 rebounds in 22 minutes to lead the Rams to a 79-48 win over the Paladins in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, Fordham improves to 4-2 on the year, the first 4-2 start for the Rams since 2006, while Furman falls to 3-4.
The 31-point margin of victory was the largest for Pecora since he became head coach at Fordham and the largest for the Rams since an 88-44 win over NJIT in 2007.
The second meeting between Fordham and Furman turned out much like the first, a 105-74 Ram win at St. John's in the 1971 NCAA tournament, and the home squad did it by controlling all facets of the game, outshooting, outrebounding and playing lockdown defense, holding the visitors to shooting 34.0% (16-47) from the field and without a three-pointer. It marked the first time that the Rams held an opponent without a three-pointer since St. John's in 2009 while the 48 points are the fewest for a Fordham opponents since the 44 scored by NJIT in 2007.
Freshman guard
Jon Severe, who entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 and ranking 13
th in the NCAA Division I in scoring, finished with 23 points, shooting 5-for-8 from behind the arc and he added three assists in notching his fourth 20-point game of the season. But the more amazing stat tonight was that Fordham won despite its second leading scorer,
Branden Frazier who entered the game averaging 21.8 ppg, scoring only four points (though he did dish out a season-high nine assists).
Three minutes into the game the Rams led by one, 6-5, when a pair of
Mandell Thomas three-pointers started a 12-0 run as the Rams took an 18-5 lead on a Thomas jumper with 13:49 left in the half. Thomas accounted for eight of the 12 points while Rhoomes chipped in with the other four.
The Paladins got the Fordham lead down to eleven three times over the next two minutes, the last at 22-11 with 11:50 on the clock when Fordham used a 16-4 spurt to take a commanding 38-15 lead following a Severe three-pointer with 6:47 remaining in the half. Severe had eleven points in the run, including three three-pointers.
Fordham led by 25 at the break, 49-24, and built the lead to as many as 41 in the second half, 72-31, on a Frazier layup midway through the half.
Thomas finished with a season-high 19 points and four rebounds for the Rams while
Travion Leonard added seven points and five rebounds and
Bryan Smith grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.
The Rams return to action on Saturday, December 7, when the venture into Manhattan to face St. John's University in Madison Square Garden at 1:00 p.m. as part of the 2013 Holiday Festival.
Notes
Rhoomes' previous career-high for scoring was eleven at Harvard last year while his previous career-high in rebounding was 12, which he accomplished twice, most recently versus Lehigh earlier this year… Smith's previous career-best for rebounds was eight, which he did three times, most recently in the season-opener with Saint Francis… Frazier's four point brings his career total to 1,190 points, 19
th on the Fordham all-time scoring list, 28 behind Jason Harris (1997-2001) for 18
th… The Rams entered the game holding opponents to shooting 18.9% from behind the arc, second best in the nation, and lowered that percentage to 17.2% after holding Furman to 0-for-11 from long distance… Fordham recorded a season-high 18 assists in the game and tied a season-high with nine steals… Three people were in the Rose Hill Gym tonight that were also present the last time these two teams played; Dr. George Zambetti, who was a player on the 1970 team, Frank McLaughlin, who was an assistant coach for the 1970 Rams, and Roger Rooney, a long time Fordham statistician who attended the game at St. John's… Mike Breen, voice of the NBA on ABC/ESPN and the New York Knicks, was in attendance as well as former New York Yankee Paul O'Neill, whose son, Aaron is a junior guard for the Paladins.
