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Men's Basketball Downs Siena to Snap Road Losing Streak
Dec. 12, 2011
Albany, N.Y. - The Fordham University men's basketball team did something tonight that they haven't done in the past seven games. Get off to a fast start. And to win, especially on the road, it's important to get off to a good start. Tonight, the Rams opened the game with a 13-3 run over the first 3:36, and led by double figures from most of the game, in a 74-59 win over the Saints in the Times Union Center. The win snaps a 13-game road losing streak dating back to last December for Fordham who improves to 4-5 on the year. Siena falls to 3-7. "We are two similar teams who are very young and playing freshmen a lot of minutes," said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. "For us, the keys were to get off to a fast start, have a good defensive field goal percentage and cut down on the turnovers. Two out of three ain't bad." The Rams shot a season-best 46.7% (7-15) from behind the arc and limited Siena to shooting just 36.7%$ (22-60), including 15.0% (3-20) from three-point range. Chris Gaston led the Rams with 16 points, shooting 8-for-15 from the field, and a season-high 15 rebounds, notching his seventh double-double of the year and the 43rd in his Fordham career. He helped the Rams outrebound Siena, 40-31. The Rams opened the game on fire with Branden Frazier burying a there-pointer just ten seconds into the game, setting the stage for Fordham. The trey started the 13-3 run for the Rams to open the game, capped by a Kervin Bristol dunk 3:36 into the game. A Kyle Downey basket cut the Siena deficit back to eight; the first of five times the Saints would pull to within eight, the final time at 24-16 with 7:30 left in the half. The Rams then used a 14-6 run to build a 16-point lead, 38-22, on a Bryan Smith three-pointer with 2:24 remaining.
Fordham took a 13-point advantage into the intermission, 42-29, and outscored Siena 9-5 over the first 3:38 of the second half to take a 51-34 lead following a Gaston layup. The Rams would get the lead to as many as 19, 55-36, with 12:46 left before the Saints started chipping away at the Fordham lead, eventually cutting it to eleven, 58-47, on an Evan Hymes layup with 6:50 remaining. Gaston responded with a layup, the first of six straight points for the Rams, as Fordham got the lead back to 17, 64-47, 1:30 later. Fordham again led by 17, 66-49, with 3:45 left when Siena started taking advantage of some Fordham miscues to get the deficit down to eleven, 66-55, with just over two minutes remaining. But that was as close as they would get as Fordham broke the Saints' press for some easy baskets over the final two minutes for the 74-59 final. Devon McMillan scored 16 points for the Rams, hitting ten of his eleven free throws, while Frazier finished with 14 points and a season-high seven assists. Smith added eleven points and Bristol chipped in with ten points and six rebounds. The Rams will return to action on Saturday, December 17th, as they venture into Manhattan to take on St. John's University in Madison Square Garden at 2:30 p.m. in the second gale of the 2011 MSG Holiday Festival. Notes
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