Gallery: (2/2/2020) Men's Basketball at Dayton
Dayton, Ohio – In 1916 Harry Houdini hung by his ankles from the Dayton Daily News building but managed to escape. A few years later, he managed to escape from a box made by NCR carpenters (NCR headquarters are located in Dayton). The Fordham men's basketball squad was hoping to escape with a win from the Gem City today but the seventh-ranked University of Dayton Flyers had other plans, defeating the short-handed Rams, 70-56, in an Atlantic 10 game in the UD Arena.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 7-14 overall, 1-8 in the Atlantic 10, while Dayton improves to 20-2 overall, 9-0 in the conference.
The Rams were led by sophomore guard
Jalen Cobb, who led all scorers in the game with 22 points, matching his career-high, while senior guard
Antwon Portley added ten points.
Fordham was playing without starting center
Onyi Eyisi who suffered an injury in the St. Bonaventure game on Wednesday night. He joined redshirt junior
Chuba Ohams and senior guard
Erten Gazi in missing the game with an injury.
The Rams trailed by 19 at the break, 36-17, and bumped the lead to as many as 22 early in the second half 47-25. The Rams got as close as 12, 60-48, on a Cobb three with 3:53 remaining but that was as close as they would get.
Takeaways
• Fordham outscored Dayton, 39-34, in the second half.
• The #7 Flyers were the highest ranked team the Rams played since they hosted sixth-ranked George Washington University on February 25, 2006
• Junior guard
Peter Burquest, who hails from Cincinnati, had a large contingence of family and friends in attendance.
• The game was a matchup between the top-ranked defense in the Atlantic 10 (Fordham entered the game allowing 60.6 ppg) and the top-ranked offense (Dayton entered the game averaging 82.7 ppg).
• The Rams held Dayton to 12.7 points under its season average with the 70-point output being a season-low for the Flyers.
By the Numbers
1 – It wasn't exactly like the Houston Rockets, who played an entire game on Friday night without a player taller than 6'6, but the Rams had only one player taller than 6'4" who appeared today (
Joel Soriano).
2 – Free throws made by Fordham a season-low (both were by
Jalen Cobb with 25 seconds left).
4 – Blocks by Fordham (two each by
Joel Soriano and
Kyle Rose).
10 – Rebounds by
Joel Soriano, a season-high for the freshman (previous high was nine at VCU).
10 – Difference starting lineups this year for the Rams.
10 – Three-pointers made by Fordham, the second straight and fourth overall game in which the Rams connected on double-figures long distance shots.
15.0 – Scoring average for
Jalen Cobb over the past six games.
22 – Points for
Jalen Cobb, his second 22-point game of the year.
25 – Games lost by Fordham players this year due to injury/illness.
13,407 - Attendance at today's game, the largest crowd for a Fordham game since the Rams played before 22,667 fans at Syracuse on November 12, 2013.
What's Next?
• The Rams continue Atlantic 10 play on Saturday, February 8, as they host the University of Richmond Spiders in the historic Rose Hill Gym at 2:00 p.m.
• It will be the 30th meeting between Fordham and Richmond on the hardwood.
• The Spiders lead the all-time series, which started in 1985, 21-8, and have won the past two match-ups, including a pair of wins last year, 72-69, on February 20 in Richmond as Grant Golden scored 16 points for the Spiders, and 52-50, in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship at the Barclay Center on March 13 as Nathan Cayo netted 15 points.
