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Men's Basketball Falls at Harvard, 73-64
Dec. 1, 2012
Cambridge, Mass. - For most of the game today at Lavietes Pavilion the Fordham University men's basketball team felt right at home as more whistles were being blown by the officials than by a traffic agent during rush hour at Times Square. Unfortunately, most of the whistles were fouls called on the Rams and Harvard took advantage of the calls to score 29 points from the free throw stripe and defeat Fordham, 73-64. With the loss, Fordham falls to 1-6 on the year while Harvard evens its record at 3-3. For the second straight contest, the Rams forced their opponent to commit 20 turnovers but for the second consecutive game Fordham was done in at the free throw line, being outscored 29-8 at the charity stripe by the Crimson today. The foul trouble limited the minutes of two Fordham big men, Ryan Canty and Travion Leonard, who played just a combined 28 minutes (15 for Leonard and 13 for Canty) before fouling out. But both players performed while in the game, with each netting ten points and Canty adding nine rebounds. The game started off close¬¬ with five ties over the first six minutes, the final time at ten following a Leonard free throw. The Rams then exploded for eleven straight points to take their largest lead of the day, 21-10, on a Canty dunk off a missed shot with 10:35 left in the half, a play that brought the Fordham contingent, which included many of Canty's relatives, to their feet. Canty and Ryan Rhoomes each scored four points in the Fordham run. But the Fordham offense went cold as Harvard reeled off the next 12 points to take a 22-21 lead on a pair of free throws with 6:46 remaining in the period. The Crimson would get their advantage to as many as six, 29-23, with just over five minutes left in the half before Fordham managed a 10-3 spurt to take a 33-32 lead following a Jeffrey Short jumper with 2:37 on the clock. But Harvard scored the final four points of the half to take a 36-33 lead into the intermission.
The Crimson opened the second half with a 10-4 spurt to build to lead to nine, 46-37, seven minutes into the half. The Rams whittled away at the Crimson advantage, eventually get the Harvard lead down to four, 50-46, on a Branden Frazier free throw with 9:23 remaining before Harvard went on a 12-4 run to take its biggest lead of the game, 62-50, with 4:45 left. Fordham refused to give in as a Leonard layup and three-point play ignited a 9-1 spurt as the Rams pulled to within four, 63-59, on a Frazier layup with 3:18 left. Harvard got the lead back to eight, 67-59, over the next 1:30 but the Rams again were able to make it a four-point game, 67-63, with 44 seconds remaining on baskets from Rhoomes and Frazier but Harvard hit all six of its free throws over the final 33 seconds for the 73-64 win. Frazier led the Rams with 16 points and he added five rebounds and five assists while Rhoomes finished with a season-high eleven points and seven boards. Notes
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