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Bronx, N.Y. (January 22, 2014) - After being held scoreless for the first time in his collegiate career on Saturday, Fordham's
Branden Frazier was kept off the scoreboard in the first half of tonight's game with George Mason. But the senior guard made up for lost time by scoring all of his game-high 22 points in the second half to lead Fordham to a 76-70 Atlantic 10 win over the Patriots in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, Fordham breaks a six-game losing streak and improves to 8-10 overall, 1-4 in the Atlantic 10, while George Mason drops its sixth straight to fall to 7-12 overall, 0-5 in the conference.
Frazier, who shot 8-for-14 from the field and dished out four assists and grabbed four rebounds, wasn't the only Fordham player to score 20 points as freshman guard
Jon Severe finished with 21 points, hitting three three-pointers.
The duo combined to ruin the homecoming of George Mason head coach Paul Hewitt, who served as an assistant coach at Fordham under Nick Macarchuk from 1990-1992.
The Rams came back from two ten-point deficits for the first time since a win over St. John's in 2010, including a 46-36 shortfall with 14:50 left in the game following a Bryon Allen layup. But the Rams responded with a 10-2 run over the next five minutes to pull to within two, 48-46, on a
Ryan Rhoomes layup. Frazier led the run with six points.
A pair of Marko Gujancic free throws bumped the George Mason lead to four, 50-46, with 9:37 left, but two
Mandell Thomas charity shots were followed by three-pointers from
Bryan Smith and Thomas, the last with 8:05 remaining, as Fordham took a 54-50 lead.
Just under three minutes later, an Allen layup knotted the game at 58 and, after a Frazier layup, Jalen Jenkins tied the game again with a basket at the 4:34 mark.
Frazier responded with a jumper in the lane 22 seconds later to give Fordham the lead for good, 62-60, and the Rams would build the lead to six, 68-62, following a Thomas free throw with 2:31 left but a pair of Patrick Holloway three-pointers, sandwiched by a Frazier free throw, made it a two-point game with 38 ticks on the clock.
Severe and Frazier each hit one of two free throws over the next 19 seconds keeping the Patriots in the game, but George Mason couldn't get off a shot on the ensuing possession as Severe stole a pass on the baseline, was fouled and hit both free throws to give the Rams a 74-68 lead.
An Allen layup with four seconds left made it 74-70 but Frazier iced the game with a pair of charity shots with three seconds remaining.
Chris Whitehead, getting his first start for the Rams, added nine points and three assists, while Thomas finished with nine points and Smith eight.
The Rams return to action on Sunday, January 26, as they travel to Amherst, Massachusetts, to face the #13/12 University of Massachusetts Minutemen in an Atlantic 10 game in the Mullins Center at 12:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network.
Notes
The Rams are now 3-1 this year when Frazier and Severe each score 20 points (the lone loss was to Harvard)… The game was Frazier's seventh 20-point game of the year and Severe's sixth… Frazier's 22 points brings his career total to 1,403, good for 12
th on the school's all-time scoring list, 32 points behind Fred Herzog (1987-92) for eleventh… Frazier also has 440 career assists, good for fourth on the all-time list… Whitehead's previous season-high in scoring was six at Monmouth… After shooting under 40% over the past three games, the Rams shot 49.0% (25-51) tonight… The starting lineup was the seventh different starting lineup for the Rams this year… Fordham won for the fourth time in eleven tries when being outrebounded by the opponent (38-30)… The meeting was just the second ever between Fordham and George Mason (the Rams won the first matchup, 64-55, in 2000)… George Mason featured four players from New York City and one from Mt. Vernon, including Corey Edwards, who played at Christ the King High School with Severe.
