Box Score |
Photo Gallery
Philadelphia, Pa. (February 22, 2014) - Fordham University was the first NCAA school to experiment with the three-point shot, doing so back in 1945. Today Saint Joseph's perfected the basket from behind the arc, connecting on 15 of them in an 87-72 Atlantic 10 win over the Rams in the Hagen Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 9-16 overall, 2-10 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's improves to 19-7 overall, 10-3 in the conference.
The Rams fell despite a career-high 28 points from junior
Bryan Smith, who shot 10-for-17 from the field, including 6-for-11 from three-point range. He surpassed his previous career-best of 25 points set at Temple in 2012 and registered his fourth career 20-point game.
But Fordham couldn't contain Saint Joseph's Langston Galloway, who hit a school-record ten three-pointers en route to a game-high 33 points.
The long ball played a big role in a second half Saint Joseph's run that put the game away. A
Jon Severe jumper 1:08 into the second cut the Fordham deficit to ten, 44-34, and the Rams had a chance to get the Hawks' lead into single digits as Chris Wilson missed a three-pointer for Saint Joseph's but the Rams couldn't get the rebound. The ball was passed to Galloway behind the arc and he buried a three, a basket that started a 12-0 Hawks' run with all 12 points coming from three-pointers, three of those from Galloway.
A Smith free throw halted the home team run but the Hawks scored nine of the next ten points to take their biggest lead of the day, 65-36, midway through the half.
Saint Joseph's led by 25 later in the half, 77-52, when Fordham went on a 20-8 run, led by six points from Smith to pull to within 13, 85-72, on a
Leo Walsh jumper with just under a minute left but that was as close as the Rams would get.
The Fordham defense was tight over the first few minutes of the game, forcing Saint Joseph's turnovers on two of the first three possessions (part of Fordham's season-high 15 steals) but the Rams couldn't capitalize on the Hawks' miscues and found themselves down 7-0, 2:36 into the contest.
A Severe three 37 seconds later got Fordham on the board and the Rams would trail by five, 12-7 with 14:36 left when a 25 -8 spurt from Saint Joseph's helped the Hawks take a 37-15 lead with 6:45 remaining in the half.
The Hawks led by 22 again with 5:38 on the clock, 39-17, but the Fordham offense came alive as a
Ryan Rhoomes jumper ignited a 13-1 run to pull the Rams within ten, 40-30, on a Smith jumper with 1:55 left and Fordham trailed by 12 at the break, 42-30.
Severe added 12 points for the Rams while Rhoomes had six points and six rebounds and
Ryan Canty finished with five points, six rebounds and two blocks.
The Rams return to action on Thursday night, February 27, as they host the VCU Rams in an Atlantic 10 game in the Rose Hill Gym at 7:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.
Notes
Leo Walsh,
Matt Massimino and DG Gaitley all played in the game and all have a connection to Pennsylvania… Walsh is from Scranton, Massimino, whose grandfather Rollie Massimino coached at Villanova, is from New Hope and Gaitley's mother, current Fordham women's head coach
Stephanie Gaitley, served as head coach at Saint Joseph's… The Rams recorded a season-high 15 steals, led by a season-best four from
Chris Whitehead… Fordham's previous season-high in steals was ten, set against Siena and matched at George Washington… The Rams scored a season-high 27 points off the Saint Joseph's turnovers… Smith also set career-highs in field goals (10) and three-pointers (6) made…
Branden Frazier dished out four assists to bring his career total to 467, second all-time at Fordham…. He also brought his career scoring total to 1,515, good for tenth on the career scoring list, nine points behind Brenton Butler… The 15 three-pointers made by Saint Joseph's was a season-high for a Fordham opponent, surpassing the 13 made by UMass… Galloway's ten three-pointers are the most for an Atlantic 10 player this year, surpassing
Jon Severe's eight against Monmouth.
