Men’s Basketball Falls at Dayton

Dayton, Ohio (February 1, 2015) – The Fordham men's basketball team had four players score in double figures today. Unfortunately, the Rams' opponent, the University of Dayton had all five starters net double figures as the Flyers outran the Rams, 101-77, in an Atlantic 10 game in the UD Arena.
 
With the loss, Fordham falls to 5-14 overall, 0-8 in the Atlantic 10, while Dayton improves to 17-4 overall, 7-2 in the conference.
 
The game featured both team's offenses as Dayton surpassed 100 points in a game for the first time since 1999 while Fordham's 77 points are the second most scored this season by the Rams and the highest total for a Dayton opponent in the UD Arena this year.
 

Fordham was led by Eric Paschall, who netted a team-high 19 points, while Jon Severe had his second straight 17-point performance game. Mandell Thomas (15) and Christian Sengfelder (10) also finished in double figures for Fordham with Thomas adding five rebounds and three steals and Sengfelder grabbing nine rebounds.
 
The game started out as a defensive struggle with neither team mounting much offense over the first 2:30. The Rams held the Flyers without a shot on Dayton's first two possessions but Fordham couldn't take advantage of the Flyers' miscues, missing its first two field goal attempts.
 
Dayton was able to open a 9-5 lead 3:38 into the contest but consecutive layups from Thomas and Severe knotted the game at nine with 15:07 remaining.
 
The game would be tied twice more over the next 1:10, the final time at 13 following a pair of Kendall Pollard free throws for Dayton. The Flyers then scored the next ten points to take a 23-13 lead with 11:08 left before a Bryan Smith jumper halted the Dayton run.
 
But the relief was temporary for Fordham as the Flyers scored 14 of the next 19 points to take a 37-18 lead at the 7:01 mark.
 
Fordham was able to get the Dayton lead down to 13, 41-28, on a Severe jumper with 1:33 left in the half but the home team took a 47-30 lead at the break.
 
Dayton opened the second half with a 10-4 run to build the lead to 23, 57-34, 3:43 into the half and the closest the Rams would get from that point was 14, 79-65, following a Paschall three-point play with 5:58 remaining.
 
Fordham returns to action on Wednesday night, February 4, as the Rams host the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the Rose Hill Gym for an Atlantic 10 game at 7:00 pm. The game will be broadcast live on SportsNet NY (SNY).
 
Notes
Severe is averaging 15.3 ppg over the past three games… He is shooting 60.6 percent (20-33) over those three games… Thomas's three steals bring his team-best total to 43 and he has at least one steal in all but two games this year… Ryan Rhoomes led Fordham with a career-high four assists (previous career-best was three)… The 47 second half points were the most scored in a second half for the Rams this year and the second most in any half (Fordham scored 51 in the first half of the season opener with NYIT)… A total of 42 fouls were called in the contest… The game was one of 12 NCAA Division I games played on Super Bowl Sunday… The Rams are now 0-4 all-time when playing on Super Bowl Sunday… Both teams have connections to the Super Bowl: The NFL Super Bowl trophy is named for Fordham alum Vince Lombardi while his grandson, Joe Lombardi, once coached at Dayton…  The win extends the Dayton home court winning streak to 17 games… Jeff Piecoro, a distant cousin of Fordham head Coach Tom Pecora, called the game on Fox Sports Ohio… The Rams went from playing in the smallest Atlantic 10 arena (Rose Hill Gym, - 3,200) to the largest (USD Arena – 13,226)… The announced attendance of 13,106 was the 247^th consecutive crowd of over 11,000 for Dayton (as a comparison, the Rams would have to sell out more than three consecutive games in the Rose Hill Gym to get to 11,000)… It was also the largest crowd for a Fordham game in 2014-2015 (previous high was 9,022 at Maryland).