Men’s Basketball Outlasted by Dayton

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Bronx, N.Y. (January 10, 2015) – The Fordham University men's basketball squad played a determined first 30 minutes against the University of Dayton, a team that advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight last year and entered tonight's game with 12 wins on the year. But it was the final ten minutes that Dayton's experience rose to the top as the Flyers pulled away for a 76-58 Atlantic 10 win over the Rams in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 5-9 overall, 0-3 in the Atlantic 10, while Dayton improves to 13-2 overall, 3-0 in the conference.
 
As opposed to the Dayton experience, the Rams relied on their youth movement tonight as Eric Paschall led the Rams with a game-high 20 points and he added seven rebounds, while Chris Sengfelder added 17 points and redshirt freshman Antwoine Anderson finished with ten.
 

The good news for the Rams was that they committed a season-low six turnovers and shot 92.9 percent (13-14) from the free throw line. The bad news for the Rams  was they they allowed Dayton to shoot 60.5 percent in the game (26-43) , including a sizzling 16-for-19 in the second half.
 
Despite the Flyers shooting so well in the second half, Fordham led by four, 31-27, two minutes into the period following a Paschall three-point play. Dayton then used an 11-1 run to take a 38-32 lead on a Kendall Pollard jumper with 14:17 remaining.
 
A Sengfelder three and Paschall jumper over the next two minutes helped Fordham trim the Dayton lead back to one, 38-37, and Fordham trailed by one, 40-39, with 11:36 left after a pair of Paschall free throws.
 
The Flyers were able to bump the lead to six twice over the next three minutes and the Rams cut it back to four both times, the final time at 47-43 on a Sengfelder layup with 8:27 on the clock.
 
Dayton then showed its experience, scoring ten straight points to take a commanding 14-point lead, 57-43 with 4:38 remaining and the closest Fordham would get is ten, 66-56 on a Anderson three-pointer with 1:34 left.
 
The first half was closely contested with neither team holding more than a four-point lead and the two squads were tied at 25 at the break.
 
The Rams return to action on Wednesday, January 14, as they travel to Philadelphia to face the Saint Joseph's University Hawks in an Atlantic 10 contest in the Hagen Arena at 7:00 p.m.
 
Notes
Mandell Thomas recorded three steals to bring his team-high season total to 33… He has at least one steal in 13 of the 14 games this season… The game was Paschall's third 20-point game this year… The previous season-low for turnovers for Fordham was nine in the season-opener with NYIT… The Rams played certain parts of the game with four freshmen and a sophomore on the court… The Flyers have now taken nine straight from the Rams… The Rams played against a Gruden son for the second time this year (Jon Gruden's son, Deuce, plays football at Lafayette while Jay Gruden's son, Joey, is a walk-on with the Flyers).