January 31, 2009 | AP Press

NEW YORK, NY– Barry Eberhardt scored 26 points and Saint Louis shot 63 percent from the field in routing Fordham 88-58 on Saturday night.

Willie Reed added 17 points for the Billikens (12-9, 3-4 Atlantic 10), who led 44-27 at the half.

Jacob Green led the Rams (3-16, 1-6) with 16 points and Mike Moore had 14 points. Fordham has lost nine of 10.

Jio Fontan made a jumper for the Rams to cut the lead to 23-21 with 9:08 left in the first half.

The Billikens then went on a 14-0 run, and led 37-21 with 3:59 left in the first half when Tom Liddell made a 3-pointer.

Saint Louis was 31-for-49 from the field and snapped a three-game losing streak.

January 28, 2009 | AP Press

OLEAN, N.Y. — Jio Fontan scored a career-high 25 points to lead Fordham over St. Bonaventure 67-65 Wednesday in an Atlantic 10 nail-biter.

Chris Bethel recorded 15 points and seven rebounds for the Rams, and Trey Blue added 12 points.

For the Bonnies, Andrew Nicholson and Jonathan Hall scored 16 points apiece. Chris Matthews scored 12 points, and Maurice Thomas contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The game was neck-and-neck from start to finish, featuring seven lead changes and seven ties.

The teams had the score knotted at 65 when Blue scored with 55.2 remaining. Hall missed his shot at the other end, and the Bonnies didn’t score again.

Bonnies guard Malcolm Eleby had a chance to tie the game at 67 but missed a wide-open layup opportunity and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, both with under 5 seconds to play.

January 25, 2009 | AP Press

New York, NY – Bill Clark scored 22 points, 16 of them in the opening half, and Duquesne routed Fordham 89-68 on Sunday to extend the Rams’ losing streak to eight straight.

Melquan Bolding followed with 19 points for the Dukes (12-6, 3-2 Atlantic 10), who had five players in double-figures scoring. Jason Duty had 18 points, Eric Evans had 13 and Aaron Jackson 10.

Mike Moore paced Fordham with 18 points. Jio Fontan and Chris Bethel each had 16 points.

A layup by Bethal gave Fordham (2-15, 0-5) a 9-6 lead at 14:31 of the opening half. The Dukes then went on 17-1 run to turn the game into a route. Clark led the way with a pair of 3-pointers.

January 18, 2009 | AP Press

KINGSTON, R.I. — Jimmy Baron scored 20 points and Rhode Island set a seasonal high record in points scored in a 98-67 win over Fordham on Saturday.

Rhode Island (12-6, 1-2 Atlantic 10 Conference) snapped a two-game losing streak as Fordham (2-14, 0-4 A-10) fell for the seventh consecutive time.

Rhode Island took a 55-32 lead into halftime. Lamonte Ulmer finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, Keith Cothran added 12 points and Ben Eaves had 11 for the Rams.

Alberto Estwick led Fordham with 19 points. Jio Fontan had 17 points and seven assists, while Trey Blue added points.

Rhode Island never trailed in the contest. They took their first double digit lead at 17-7 with 13:25 on a lay up by Cothran, and doubled the advantage to 20 points at 43-23 following a three-point shot by Eaves.

January 14, 2009 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Rob Lowry scored 13 points and made a go-ahead layup with 5 seconds to play Wednesday night, rallying Dayton to a 72-71 victory over Fordham.

The Flyers (15-2, 1-1 Atlantic 10) sealed the win when Lowry stole the ball from Jio Fontan with 2 seconds left, preserving Dayton’s streak of 13 straight wins at home.

Fordham (2-13, 0-3) overcame an 11-point deficit in the second half. Fontan made a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that cut it to 70-69, and the Rams forced a turnover. Trey Blue was fouled and made both shots to put Fordham up by a point with 10 seconds to go. Lowry dribbled down the court and drove through the lane for his winning layup.

Alberto Estwick led Fordham with 17 points.

January 11, 2008 | AP Press

NEW YORK, NY – Xavier looked really good for a half before Fordham came up with a sensational five minutes. Then the Musketeers (No. 18 ESPN/USA Today, No. 16 AP) went back to being themselves for another easy win.

B.J. Raymond scored 18 points to lead six Xavier players in double figures in an 86-60 victory over the Rams on Sunday.

“All in all it was a good road win for our team. If there is such a thing as a hard-fought 26-point victory, this was it,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We had to win twice. We got the big lead, took a punch and responded again.”

It was the fourth straight victory for Xavier (13-2, 2-0 Atlantic 10) following its only losses to Duke and Butler.

The Musketeers shot a season-best 53.8 percent from the field (28-for-52) and finished with a 45-29 rebound advantage.

Derrick Brown scored 14 points, Jason Love 13, Terrell Holloway and Brad Redford had 11 each and C.J. Anderson added 10 for the Musketeers, who have beaten Fordham five straight times and are 17-3 all-time against the Rams and 15-1 since the 1995-96 season.

“We were composed. Our young guys have to learn these things can happen, especially on the road,” Brown said. “We hit them back with a pretty good punch in the mouth.”

Alberto Estwick had 20 points for Fordham (2-12, 0-2), which has lost five straight games.

Xavier led 45-30 at halftime but the Rams had their one hot streak of the game, hitting four 3-pointers in an 18-4 run that had them within 49-48 with 15:21 to play. Estwick hit three of the 3s and Mike Moore had the other in the run that forced Miller to call two timeouts before the first media timeout of the half.

The Musketeers extended their defense and the open 3-point shots were suddenly gone.

Xavier scored 10 straight points as part of a 23-3 run that gave the Musketeers a 72-51 lead with 7:05 left.

“It does happen on the road and I told them that and it was no time to worry,” Miller relayed about what he said to the team in the two timeouts. “We didn’t panic, kept our composure. We weren’t different. We were the same team and our defense started to come around. That was an excellent performance in a brief period of time by Fordham. It shows the 3-point shot can sure turn a game quickly.”

The biggest lead was 86-57 on a three-point play by Holloway with 10 seconds to go.

“I wish we could have stopped game after 25 minutes and said we won,” Fordham coach Dereck Whittenburg said with a smile. “They have a great, great team and they showed you why. We brought the game back but we need some experience out there and have to execute and they showed you why. You make mistakes, they capitalize and it’s like a faucet running and you can’t stop it.”

Xavier’s best shooting game had been 53.5 percent (23-for-43) in an 81-74 victory over Auburn on Dec. 3.

Fordham was 3-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half and finished at 10-for-28, including the 4-for-4 start to the second half. The Rams entered the game 13th in the 14-team conference in 3-point shooting at 29.9 percent Xavier was fourth in 3-point percentage defense at 32. percent.

“They hit 10 3s and if we don’t have answers like we do that could have been enough to win a game,” Miller said.

Jio Fontan, the Atlantic 10’s leading freshman scorer with a 14.1 average finished with 10 points and 11 assists for the Rams but he was 3-for-14 from the field overall, including 0-for-7 in the second half when he committed five of his six turnovers.

Miller called Fontan as “talented as any freshman guard in the country.”

Whittenburg said Fontan was “trying to be aggressive.”

“But sometimes when the game gets in the balance you start taking quick shots and make a mistake and before you know it, you’ve gone from down one to down 10 and all of a sudden it’s 15,” Whittenburg said. “We’ll stay with it. We’re young and as lopsided as it looked, we had a chance with 15 minutes to go.”

The loss was the 46th straight to a ranked team for Fordham, which is 6-88 all-time against ranked teams. The last time the Rams beat a ranked team was Feb. 26, 1978, a 63-59 victory over No. 18 Georgetown.

January 7, 2009 | AP Press

NEW YORK, NY — Chris Matthews scored 15 points and all five St. Bonaventure starters scored in double figures as the Bonnies remained unbeaten on the road this season with a 78-65 victory over Fordham on Wednesday night.

Jonathan Hall added 14 points for the Bonnies (10-4, 1-0 Atlantic 10), while Maurice Thomas, Andy Nicholson and Malcolm Eleby all had 13.

St. Bonaventure improved to 6-0 on the road this season, breaking a tie for the best start away from home with the 1967-68 team that was led by sophomore Bob Lanier.

Jio Fontan had 22 points, 18 in second half for the Rams (2-11, 0-1).

Fontan’s 3 with 1:38 left brought Fordham within 68-63, but Matthews added four free throws the rest of the way and the Rams got no closer.

January 3, 2009 | AP Press

BOWLING GREEN, OH — Nate Miller came off the bench to score 17 points to lead Bowling Green back from a halftime deficit to beat Fordham 65-59 on Saturday.

Brian Moten added 13 points for the Falcons (6-6), who also had substitute Chris Knight grab 14 rebounds.

Jio Fontan had 20 points for Fordham (2-9), with Chris Bethel adding 17 and Jacob Green 10.

Fordham raced to a 5-0 lead and was on top 32-29 at the half. After Bowling Green spurted early in the second half to build an 11-point lead, the Rams narrowed the deficit to 59-57 on two free throws by Bethel with 3:12 left.

But Miller hit two free throws and a basket and the lead never dropped below four points again.

The Falcons held a 40-29 rebounding edge.

December 29, 2008 | AP Press

MIAMI, Fla. — Alex Galindo scored 19 points in his season debut Monday to lead Florida International to a 63-55 triumph over Fordham in the FIU Holiday Tournament.

Freddy Asprilla scored 12 points and pulled down 10 rebounds and Nick Taylor added 10 points for FIU (5-10), which snapped a six-game losing streak in the final game of the three-team event.

Galindo, a transfer from Kansas and FIU’s leading scorer the last two seasons, missed the first 14 games due to a dislocated ankle. He scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half while connecting on four 3-pointers.

Fordham (2-9) was led by Trey Blue’s 18 points.

Both teams struggled in the first half as neither shot better than 30 percent with FIU taking a 25-19 lead at the break.

Tennessee-Martin defeated FIU 77-76 in overtime and Fordham 82-70 to win the FIU Holiday Tournament.

December 28, 2008 | AP Press

MIAMI, FL — Lester Hudson scored a season-high 31 points to lead Tennessee-Martin past Fordham 82-70 to win the FIU Holiday Tournament.

Marquis Weddle added 12 points and Delrico Lane had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Tennessee-Martin (6-5), which has won four straight.

Hudson was 9-of-15 from the floor and hit all 13 of his free throws. He also had seven rebounds and six assists.

Fordham (2-8) was led by Jio Fontan, who scored 17 points. Mike Moore added 16.

Tennessee-Martin used a 13-1 run in the first half to spark a 44-30 lead at halftime and led by as many as 18 points.

The Skyhawks shot 50 percent (28 of 56) from the floor compared to 36.1 percent for the Rams (22 of 61).

Tennessee-Martin defeated Florida International 77-76 on Saturday in the opener of the three-team event.

Fordham will face FIU on Monday in the tournament’s final game.