Bronx, N.Y. – With such a young squad, Fordham head men’s basketball coach Tom Pecora doesn’t quite know what to expect from his squad from game-to-game or from half-to-half. Tonight, the Rams played a solid first half in their home opener, building a big halftime lead, en route to a 64-49 win over Binghamton University in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, Fordham evens its record at 1-1 while Binghamton falls to 0-3.
“Our goal was to play a full 40 minutes tonight the way we wanted to and we didn’t,” said Pecora. “In the second half we didn’t attack the way we wanted to and we made a lot of poor decisions. We have a lot to work on. We’re young and we have to learn we’re not going to beat teams turning the ball over 18 times.”
Chris Gaston paced the Rams and picked up his first double-double of the year tonight, scoring 15 points and adding eleven rebounds. He now has 37 career double-doubles in 58 career contests.
After a slow start by both teams, the Rams rallied behind an energetic home crowd, using a stifling defense that forced 16 first half Binghamton turnovers which Fordham converted into 23 points, helping the Rams build the big first half lead.
With the score tied at five following a Carlyle Francis three-pointer for the Bearcats 2:35 into the game, the Rams exploded for 22 straight points to take a 27-5 lead with 9:34 left in the first. The run was started by a pair of Gaston dunks as he and Bryan Smith each netted six points in the Fordham spurt.
The Fordham offense then got cold as Binghamton used an 11-2 run to pull to within 13, 29-16, on a Ben Dickinson jumper with 5:14 remaining in the period.
The Rams dug down, holding the Bearcats to just one point the rest of the half while Smith and Gaston each netted four points as Fordham closed out the first 20 minutes with a 12-1 run to take a 41-17 lead at the intermission.
Binghamton came out hot in the second half, scoring the first eleven points to again cut the Fordham lead to 13, 41-28, on a Javon Rallings layup 4:50 into the period.
The Fordham offense then got back on track, scoring the next eight points to take a commanding 49-28 lead following a Branden Frazier three-pointer with 12:36 left in the game.
The closest the Bearcats would get from that point was 14, which they did twice, the final time at 59-45, with 2:24 remaining.
Frazier led all scorers with 18 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the field, and he added four rebounds and four assists, while Devon McMillan added 14 points, six rebounds and there assists and Smith added 14 points and four steals.
The Rams will return to action on Saturday, November 26th, as they travel to Chicago to face fellow Jesuit school, Loyola University, at 4:00 p.m. (EST).
Notes
The Rams have now won both meeting with Binghamton… The win breaks a three-game losing streak in home openers for Fordham who is now 76-17 (.817) in home openers since 1908-09… With his 15 points, Gaston brings his career total to 978, 36th on the Fordham all-time scoring list, 18 points behind Andre McClendon (1986-90) and Mark Murphy (1979-83)… Gaston’s eleven boards bring his career tally to 651, placing him 13th on the Fordham career list, 29 behind Dan O’Sullivan (1986-90)…The Rams have recorded double digits steals in each of the first two games, notching eleven tonight after having ten at Syracuse last week… The 49 points scored by Binghamton were the fewest for a Fordham opponent since the Rams held NJIT to 44 points on December 8, 2007… The 23 turnovers by the Bearcats are the most for a Fordham opponent since the Rams forced Hofstra into 27 miscues on December 5, 2007… The Rams have forced 38 turnovers over the first two games… Jeff Short made his collegiate debut after sitting out the Syracuse game with an injury but his first appearance was a short one as he pulled a hamstring after playing two minutes and sat out the rest of the game… The Rams shot 56.3% (18-32) from the field in the first half, including 50% (4-8) from behind the arc…Fordham scored almost half its points in the paint (30) and had 17 fast break points.
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