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Brooklyn, N.Y. (March 12, 2014) – Fordham senior guard
Branden Frazier had never played in the Atlantic 10 Championship until tonight and he was determined to make his first appearance at the conference championship last more than one game. Frazier netted 14 points and was aided by a career-high 19 rebounds from
Ryan Canty as the Rams upended George Mason University, 70-67, in an opening round game of the 2014 A-10 Championship at the Barclays Center.
The win, Fordham's first at the Atlantic 10 championship since a 63-61 win over Richmond in the opening round of the 2007 championship, improves the 13th-seeded Rams to 10-20 on the year while 12th-seeded George Mason closes out the season with an 11-20 record. The win also snaps an eight-game losing streak for Fordham.
The Rams advance to play the fifth-seeded University of Dayton Flyers in the first round of the 2014 Atlantic 10 Championships on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
The Rams' three Brooklyn natives all had a hand in the win tonight, with each scoring in double figures.
Bryan Smith matched fellow Brooklyn native Frazier's 14 points while freshman
Jon Severe added 12.
Canty 's 19 rebounds were just one shy of the Atlantic 10 Championship record and surpassed his previous career-best of 16, set against St. John's in 2012 and matched last Saturday versus George Washington. The 19 boards helped Fordham score a season-high 27 second chance points.
Fordham entered the game leading the Atlantic in free throw shooting (73.6%) and the Rams needed some timely free throw shooting to hang on tonight as Fordham scored its last eight points, and nine of the final eleven points from the charity stripe.
Fordham led by six, 62-56, on a Frazier layup with 1:33 remaining but Bryon Allen answered with a three for the Patriots 24 seconds later to cut the Fordham lead in half.
Frazier made one of two free throws with a minute on the clock to boost the lead to four, 63-59, but Canty was called for a foul on the miss and Erik Copes buried both of his free throws to make it a 63-61 game.
A Frazier missed jumper with 30 seconds left was rebounded by
Travion Leonard who was fouled and Leonard hit both of his charity shots to put Fordham up four, 65-61. But Allen converted two free throws five seconds later before
Bryan Smith made a pair with 22 seconds left to make it a 67-63 game.
Another Allen three with 15 seconds remaining cut the Fordham advantage to just one, 67-66, but George Mason fouled Smith again with 13.4 seconds on the clock and Smith hit both free throws to put the Rams up three, 69-66.
The Rams elected to foul Johnny Williams to prevent a three-point attempt and Williams converted only one of his two free throws to make it a 69-67 game with five seconds left. Canty rebounded the miss and was fouled and he made one of his two free throws to give Fordham a 70-67 lead.
The Rams again elected to foul and sent Allen to the line but he missed his first shot and then intentionally missed the second with the rebound going to George Mason's Patrick Holloway whose three-pointer bounced off the rim as time expired.
Fordham led from start to finish, taking as much as an eleven-point lead three times in the first half, the final at 33-22 with 1:14 left on a Leonard layup, but the Patriots scored four points in the final 15 seconds to cut the halftime deficit to seven, 33-26.
The Rams got the lead back to eleven twice over the first five minutes of the second half, the last at 41-30, following a pair of
Jon Severe free throws. George Mason then outscored the Rams 17-6 over the next six minutes to make it a one-point game, 48-47, on a Sherrod Wright three at the 9:02 mark.
But Fordham got the lead back to six five times over the next 7:30, the final at 62-56 with 1:33 left.
Leonard added ten points and nine rebounds for the Rams while Canty chipped in with seven points to go with his 19 rebounds and he blocked three shots.
Notes
Frazier entered the game as one of eight NCAA Div. I player to average better than 17.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 4.0 apg… His 14 points brings his career total to 1,612 career points, ninth all-time at Fordham, and his five assists bring his career total to 492, second all-time at the school… Frazier is averaging 21.0 ppg over the past four games… Frazier played 38 or more minutes for the 16
th time this year (he played all 40 minutes eleven times and 41 minutes in an OT game vs. Richmond)… Severe added to his freshman scoring record at Fordham with his 12 points and now has 521, breaking
Chris Gaston's record of 504 set in 2009-10… Canty is averaging 12.6 rpg over the past five games and has blocked 13 shots over the past six games… Rebounding runs in the Canty family as his grandfather, Bob Canty, still holds the Harvard school record with 31 rebounds in a game, set against Boston College in 1955… Fordham is a perfect 3-0 all-time against George Mason and 2-0 in the Barclays Center (the Rams defeated Princeton in the arena last year)… Fordham is now 5-13 all-time at the Atlantic 10 Championships… Hitting the 70-point mark was big for Fordham as the Rams are 0-10 when scoring fewer than 69 points in a game this year.
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