Guest Contributor Ray Floriani -- At the Holiday Festival

by Ray Floriani

New York City - The format of the MSG Holiday Festival went through another alteration. Up until a few years ago it was contested just after Christmas. Since then it has been before December 25th and this season was not a true tournament. No semifinal and final doubleheader -- just a twin bill -- this past Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

The Holiday Festival logo

The scores:

Rutgers	67		58	Stony Brook
St. John's	56		50	Fordham

Possession and efficiency:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Stony Brook	66	88
Rutgers	63	106

View of MSG

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Fordham	68	73
St. John's	68	83

Notes & Points of Emphasis
1. Rutgers was tested.
The American East representatives, Stony Brook worked hard on the offensive glass showing a 46-32% edge in offensive rebounding percentage. Rutgers coach Mike Rice pointed out , partially in jest, that his Scarlet Knights (6-5) had too much holiday spirit and were willing to give up second chances to the Seawolves. Stony Brook did not have an easy time finishing those opportunities showing only a 13-9 lead in second chance points. Stony Brook (3-6) basically lived on the perimeter and shot better from three (7 of 24 for 29%) than from two (9 of 36 and 25%). Rutgers shot 56% from two en route to a 54% eFG mark. Both teams had identical and sloppy 24% TO rates. Myles Mack of Rutgers led all scorers with 22 points. The freshman guard did not start but proved the old axiom 'it is more important who finishes rather than starts the game'. Mack used 18% of the Scarlet Knight possessions and obviously was very much involved.

Rutgers coach Mike Rice feels his team was in a holiday mode
giving too many offensive rebounding 'gifts'

2. Fordham is improved
They entered MSG at 4-5. Tom Pecora is getting double figure scoring from three players, none are seniors. Junior Chris Gaston leads at 14.6 PPG while the backcourt of sophomore Branden Frazier (10.0) and freshman Devon McMillan (11.6) has been effective.

Against St. John's there were opportunities. Gaston got inside but struggled to finish. He scored 11 points, grabbed 14 rebounds (5 offensive) but was 4 of 16 from the field. Both clubs failed to hit 40% eFG with Fordham at 36% and St. John's not much better with 38%. The young Ram backcourt did a nice job caring for the ball with a 15% TO rate, compared to St. John's' 22%. Red Storm got the big and arguable game decisive advantage on the offensive glass. They showed a 42-24% dominance in offensive rebounding percentage. God's Gift Achiuwa (5) and Moe Harkness (3) accounted for half of the 16 St. John's offensive boards. Harkness, a 6-8 freshman swing man, had a nice 13 point, 16 rebound double-double.

3. St. John's has concerns
The Red Storm is now 5-5. Beyond the .500 won-lost record are other issues. The exit of Nurideen Lindsey further depletes an already thin squad. In the first half against Fordham the starters went the entire way. For the game, four players put in the full forty minutes. The only one who did not was freshman guard Sir Dominic Pointer who put in 36 minutes and spelled by Malik Stith for only 4 minutes. The biggest concerns in this situation are foul trouble -- the Storm do zone frequently to stay out of that situation -- and injuries. They can ill afford an injury to anyone. With Big East play and its physical nature, practices, plus Winter and the illnesses it can bring coming up, St. John's will be embarking on conference play in a very tenuous circumstance.

The Stony Brook band entertained
and enjoyed their MSG appearance

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: Rhode Island at Fordham

by Ray Floriani

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Fordham's final Izod Center appearance for this season , was a less than memorable one. Rhode Island dominated the home standing Rams 90-58 in an Atlantic Ten Conference game on Saturday.

Outside the Izod Center
on a bright (Spring?) day

The efficiencies:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Rhode Island	75	120
Fordham	77	75

Both teams entered the game averaging 67 possessions. With a significant deficit for most of the game Fordham was not about to milk possessions. They needed more, not less. The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
Rhode Island	58	18	14	20
Fordham	35	19	28	20

The above table does a fairly good job telling the story. Rhode Island dominated. They started on a 10-0 run and never looked back nor were seriously threatened. Free throw rate divides made free throws by field goal attempts. Fordham had twelve free throws and 67 FGA while also canned a dozen but attempted 67 field goals. That slight 'edge' by Fordham proved a bit trivial as Rhody enjoyed huge advantages in eFG and offensive rebounding percentages.

Pre-game captains conference
run by Brian O'Connell (c).
Flanking Brian are Gary Prager(L) and John Gwynn (R)

Synergy
Rhode Island coach Jim Baron made a point of how well his team shared the ball. Decided to run Synergy on both URI and Fordham. Synergy is a metric derived in this manner:

Synergy = FG PCT/(A/FGM)

The higher the number the better. Synergy is another metric to show how teams distribute the ball. The totals for this game:

Rhode Island	0.914
Fordham	0.848

Rhode Island's Synergy, as the numbers show, was near excellent.

The Manley Numbers...
...provide a good illustration of Rhode Island's complete effort. Taking a look at URI's and Fordham's two leading scorers...

Player, Team	Pts.	Eff.
Delroy James, URI	29	35
N. Malesevic, URI	13	20
Brenton Butler, For	12	3
Chris Gaston, For	10	7

URI-Fordham action at Izod

Rhody's outstanding forward Delroy James played 28 minutes and his efficiency per minute was a superlative 1.25. Breaking 100 on the per minute efficiency is excellent and of the not too frequent variety. Butler's 5 of 11 from the floor and one assist, 5 turnovers significantly affected the efficiency of Fordham's senior guard.

Chris Gaston did not start but played 27 minutes. Gaston was late for the team bus and Fordham coach Tom Pecora had the sophomore star sit out the opening minutes. A perimeter oriented team, Fordham never got the inside game going. By the time Gaston entered the contest, with about 6 minutes gone, Fordham was already looking at a double digit deficit. The result saw 26% of their field goal attempts from beyond the arc. Their two point shooting , 17 of 48 (35%) was subpar. Overall a long afternoon.

On the other end URI relentlessly attacked and frequently got good or uncontested opportunities in the paint. For Fordham it was a total breakdown on both ends of the floor.

'Dance Rhythm', the Fordham dance team
Were one of Fordham's bright spots

Notes
Rhode Island improved to 18-10 (9-5 in the A-10). Fordham fell to 6-20 and 0-14 in conference. Both teams committed 15 turnovers and had equal turnover rates. Rhode Island made Fordham play dearly for their miscues. URI enjoyed a 29-13 edge in points off turnovers.

Rhode Island finishes the A-10 regular season slate hosting George Washington Wednesday then traveling to St. Bonaventure on Saturday. Fordham wraps up at LaSalle Wednesday and home for UMass three days later.

"We will get back to work.
If we play as we are capable we can win our last two
against LaSalle and UMass."
-- Fordham coach Tom Pecora.

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: Saint Joseph's at Fordham

by Ray Floriani
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - It looked like this might be the day. For a half at least. Fordham jumped out to a 12 point lead at the break before St. Joseph's came back for a 76-70 victory at the Izod Center.

Afternoon at the Izod

The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
St. Joseph's	57	35	31	12
Fordham	49	54	35	16

The Tale of Two Halves:
The first half...

			Off.
	Poss.	Pts.	Eff.
St. Joseph's	33	31	94
Fordham	32	43	134

The second half...

			Off.
	Poss.	Pts.	Eff.
St. Joseph's	27	45	167
Fordham	32	27	84

The game...

			Off.
	Poss.	Pts.	Eff.
St. Joseph's	60	76	127
Fordham	70	64	109

Have to be impressed the way St. Joseph's came back. With a young team, on the road in the midst of a tough long season, the Hawks showed their will and stayed with it. The possessions show they did not get in a 'helter skelter' affair to rush in trying to cut the deficit. Rather, they took the approach that the final twenty minutes would provide ample opportunities to get the score to a manageable level and then put them in position to make their run.

Three point shooting was a key. The Hawks shot better beyond the arc than inside. The three point shooting came at a 64% rate (7 of 11) the second half. Two point shooting was 5 of 9 (56%). Overall St. Joseph's shot 60% (12 of 20) after going 11 of 31 (36%) the first half.

Both teams cared for the ball very well. Fordham had a slight rebounding edge offensively. Kervin Bristol and Chris Gaston had 10 rebounds each for the Rams.

Beside the increased offensive efficiency on the part of the Hawks, Fordham also struggled the final half as the production of two key players feel a bit. Alberto Estwick had a dozen at the half and Gaston had 8 points 7 boards in the books. The second half saw Estwick garner two points while Gaston had a relatively quiet 6 points 3 boards.

The damage inflicted on Fordham came courtesy of two young guards. Freshman Langston Galloway hit for 25 points while sophomore Carl Jones scored 15. Charoy Bentley, followed a solid performance against UMass, with a solid 14 points (5 of 7 shooting) in 23 minutes of relief. Langston and Jones however, took 43% of their team's shots while producing 53% of the points. They each scored a dozen in that game changing second half.

Fordham huddles before coming out the second half

Crunch Time
The shot chart the last eight minutes (St. Joseph's led 57-55 with eight to go) showed the Hawks scored six field goals. Four were off set offense. Two in transition and the last one on the break came by breaking full court pressure with under two minutes to go. The Rams had four field goals. Two were treys (by Branden Frazier) while the last two were on penetration baskets very late with the Hawks enjoying a two-three possession lead.

Numbers and Notes
Fordham is now 6-17 (0-11 in the A-10). St. Joseph's is 7-17 (2-8). Galloway's 25 points paced all scorers. Frazier and Brenton Butler paced the Rams with 17 points each.

One thing missing from the media room the prior two Fordham games at Izod was coffee. Today it was here, in full glory. Regular or decaf.

Win over Fordham was the Hawks' second straight. They entertain Xavier on Wednesday. Fordham's next game is also with Xavier, on the road February 19th. Win was number 1,500 in St. Joseph's long and tradition rich history.

"At the half I was worried about them (St. Joseph's )
playing harder than us the second half.
And they did." - Fordham coach Tom Pecora

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: St. Bonaventure at Fordham

by Ray Floriani
BRONX, NY- St. Bonaventure bounced back from a tough home loss to UMASS on Wednesday, defeating Fordham 69-60 at Rose Hill on Saturday.

Outside Rose Hill Gym
Enough with the snow but at least its photogenic

The pace and efficiency:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
St. Bona	67	103
Fordham	67	90

The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
St. Bona	46	55	24	12
Fordham	38	7	35	12

Inside Rose Hill Gym

Free Throw Rate.
The Bonnies were 26 of 41 from the line while Fordham was 5 of 9. Rams coach Tom Pecora had nothing but praise for the officials. On the disparity from the stripe he said, "they (Bonaventure) came out aggressive. When you come out like that you put yourself in a position to get calls and get to the line. Give them credit. We came out too passive."

Mark Schmidt of Bonaventure added, "we get to the line a lot in our games. Our philosophy is inside/out. We get the ball inside and as a result get opportunities to go to the free throw line."

Fordham led 17-8 in offensive rebounds. A strong second half showing on the glass was responsible for the edge in the OREB percentage category.

TO rate was a revelation for the Bonnies especially. They had been plagued with turnover problems in recent seasons. On the season both clubs have a 21% TO rate. And in this contest they showed outstanding TO rate numbers.

Forward/Center Andrew Nicholson shows his form

Crucial Four
The first four minutes of both halves are critical to setting a tone. Fordham, down 36-20 at intermission, utilized those opening minutes to their distinct advantage. On Bonaventure's opening possession Andrew Nicholson was fouled in the act of shooting. Nicholson missed both free throws. Fordham scored on their first three possessions of the half. The Bonnies missed shots on the two possessions following Nicholson's misses from the line. Instead of a potential 18 point Bonaventure margin, the Ram deficit was 10 points with about 17 minutes to play in front of an energized home crowd. Fordham closed the four minute stretch with a 9-2 scoring edge in 6 possessions. The efficiencies for that juncture were Fordham 150 and Bonaventure 33. More important, a lead that took the Bonnies about a half to build was virtually sliced in half in the span of just four minutes.

Defending the Three
Taking a cue from David Hess' Project Scoresheet on the Audacity of Hoops site, I decided to chart every field goal attempt from three point range. For uncontested attempts, a notation was made. The results:

1st Half	3 Point Shooting
	Overall	Uncontested
St. Bona	3-4 (75%)	2-2 (100%)
Fordham	3-11 (27%)	0-2 (0%)

2nd Half	3 Point Shooting
	Overall	Uncontested
St. Bona	2-7 (29%)	2-5 (40%)
Fordham	2-11 (18%)	2-6 (33%)

For the game, the numbers were:

Game	3 Point Shooting
	Overall	Uncontested
St. Bona	5-11 (46%)	4-7 (57%)
Fordham	5-22 (23%)	2-8 (25%)

Seven of the 11 three point attempts by the Bonnies were uncontested. That was largely due to the inside game and the attention afforded Nicholson by the Fordham defense. The Rams just did not close out quicker on perimeter shooters. Also, the likes of freshman Matthew Wright (9 points on 3 of 5 beyond the arc) shot some very deep threes.

On the Fordham side, the Bonnies did a good job ensuring the Rams got a minimum of open, uncontested looks. They did get 6 uncontested looks the second half. Chalk that up to a few Fordham attempts in transition and with Chris Gaston more effective in the paint the final twenty minutes, the perimeter opened up a bit.

Numbers
St. Bonaventure is 11-9 (3-4 A-10). The Rams drop to 6-13 (0-7). Andrew Nicholson led all scorers with 25 points. The Bonaventure junior added 11 boards. Brenton Butler paced Fordham with 15 points while Chris Gaston led the Rams with 11 rebounds. Game was a sellout at Rose Hill. Gaston finished with 11 points and was well defended especially the second half. Fordham did own a 30-24 points in the paint edge. That was largely due to the second half and not just on posting up. The Rams were successful those final 20 minutes in hitting the offensive boards and getting dribble penetration. Demetrius Conger, a sophomore forward, finished with 11 points 5 rebounds and made a few big plays to allow the Bonnies to maintain the lead when Fordham made its second half run. Attendance was a sold out 3,200.

Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt meets the media

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: St. Louis at Fordham

by Ray Floriani
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - St. Louis was dominant the last ten minutes of the game. The Billikens pulled away in the stretch defeating Fordham 68-55 at the Izod Center on Wednesday.

Pre-game officials and captains conference.
Officials are (l-R) Mike Roberts, Joe DeMayo and John Gwynn

The efficiency numbers:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
St. Louis	71	96
Fordham	72	76

St. Louis opts for a low sixties tempo. Fordham coach Tom Pecora decided to speed them up. Mission accomplished. Fordham used 'blitzes', traps and some full court pressure to speed the game up. "Sometimes you get turnovers," Pecora said. "Even if they do not turn it over they may rush and take a quick shot. At any rate the faster pace gives us more possessions."

The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
St. Louis	56	27	23	27
Fordham	31	55	23	25

Game action

The Rundowns:
St. Louis
Coach Rick Majerus immediately addressed the turnovers. Interestingly, a good deal of the TOs (19) did not come from Fordham pressure. "We had about seven turnovers that were offensive fouls," Majerus said, "such as illegal screens."…The eFG mark was very impressive given 41% of their field goal attempts were from beyond the arc. Their three point percentage was an impressive 45% (9 of 20). Good, fast ball movement and the Rams' inability to close out on several possessions, gave the Billikens a number of good looks. Cody Ellis (3 of 4) on the game proved to be the deadliest shooter from beyond the arc. St. Louis 'lost' the free throw rate category. Chalk it up to some overly aggressive defense which is not always a negative. St. Louis was whistled for 30 personals to Fordham's 22. A number of the Fordham free throws were attempted in the stretch with the outcome virtually decided.

The St. Louis huddle
before start of the second half

Fordham
If it was a high school game of 32 minutes the Rams would probably have an A-10 win or two. The Rams actually took a 40-39 lead just before the ten minute mark. Alas, the game is 40 minutes. As Tom Pecora said it is a recurring theme. "We are right there for 30 minutes," he said, 'then fatigue sets in we get breakdowns. Teams get separation on us now down the stretch we are playing catch up..." Guard play is another concern. Chris Gaston did his part with 24 points, almost completely responsible for a 22-20 Fordham edge on points in the paint. Four primary guards Brandon Frazier, Lamount Samuel, Alberto Estwick and Brenton Butler combined for 27 points on 5 of 24 shooting. Pecoca made it a point to mention guard play must improve. "A lot of our younger guards did not realize the physicality of the Atlantic Ten," the Fordham mentor said…Free throw rate was a positive. Taking the made free throws divided by field goal attempts showed Fordham utilized opportunities from the charity strip as they were 26 of 32 from the floor…Rams had seven field goals the second half. The shot chart revealed every one by Gaston and six in the paint, the other on the right block just outside the lane.

Numbers
St. Louis is 7-11 (2-3 in the Atlantic Ten). Fordham is 6-10 (0-4) and has lost four straight. Chris Gaston was the game pacesetter in scoring with 24 points and rebounding (10). Kyle Cassity led St. Louis with 13 points. Freshman forward Dwayne Evans had a nice 12 point 8 board effort for St. Louis. The Billikens blocked two shots. A surprising one was by 6-1 guard Jordan Jett who rejected at attempt by Gaston in the paint. Rams next Izod date is February 13th against St. Joe's.

Exiting the Izod Center

Coaching Carousal Part 2010-01: The 11 Week "Off Season"

September 24 to December 03...
From Jim Crews' termination in late September to Dereck Whittenburg's termination in early December, the Coaching Carousal stopped for just over ten weeks this (pre?) season, just long enough to kick off fall practice and get the season underway. Jack Styczynski over at the New York Times' Quad Blog posted a thought piece, "Looking for the Benefit of a Midseason Coaching Change", in the aftermath of Benny Moss' 1/29/2010 termination at NC - Wilmington. Styczynski, while recounting briefly the list of terminated coaches during the season, could find no value in the timing. While his analysis considered the interim coaches' won-loss records and subsequent inability to remove the "interim" tag from each's title, his premise, that these four Athletic Directors acted "too quickly" struck me as very odd. Styczynski frames the window in which the situations at each institution evolved from roughly the beginning of the season to the point of termination, and wonders if waiting another 10 or so weeks would really be that bad. And within that context his arguments persuade...perhaps. I can't speak to the situation at NC-Wilmington, but with respect to DePaul, Penn and Fordham, the question ("to terminate or not to terminate"), was in discussion for at least the two off seasons that preceded the 2009-10 season. The question should be "Why so slow?", rather than "Why so fast?" Why, in the case of Fordham, DePaul and Penn, did the AD drag out a termination process that was clearly in motion the preceding spring? The grievances and shortcomings of Wainwright (DePaul), Miller (Penn) and Whittenburg (Fordham) were publicly discussed and examined in excruciating detail for months (even years) before the beginning of the 2009-2010 season, as each landed on at least one "Hot Seat" list in the preseason.

When Army's AD decided, for reasons never given a extensive public airing (most likely because he acted quickly?), it was time for Coach Jim Crews to go, he notified Crews, conducted a search and hired a replacement inside of 72 hours. Three weeks before fall practice was certainly inconvenient timing, for the team, for the candidate who agreed to take the job (Zach Spiker, one of Steve Donahue's assistant coaches at Cornell) and for the AD who found himself staring into a candidate pool far smaller than he would have had had he waited six months (or acted six months earlier). The Black Knights of the Hudson recorded a 4-10 record in their conference (the Patriot League) and logged a 14-15 record for the season. Disappointing perhaps had that record been accumulated under Crews, but replacing a coach as late in the off season as Army dampens expectations (and they did split on the season with Navy, so all was not lost).

Why the Wait?
The benefit of waiting six or seven monthes to terminate Whittenburg, Miller and Wainwright was most likely that all three would, with the exception of Fordham (see Jio Fontan -- Whittenburg could not hang on to Jio, who left for Southern Cal), hang onto their rosters. Retaining Jared Grasso as the interim coach most likely allowed the Rams to hang on to A10 Rookie of the Year (in the making) Chris Gaston. Would the Rams have held onto both had they replaced Whittenburg in the spring of 2009? Maybe, but Fontan was clearly mulling transfer options during the summer of 2009 and had he bolted after meeting with a summer of 2009 replacement (most likely not Pecora), Gaston, who had not yet started at Fordham, could very possibly asked for his release. It would have been difficult for Fordham to deny that request. Retaining Jared Grasso as interim most likely helped them keep Gaston through the end of the season. Now it is up to Tom Pecora who moved over from Hofstra to take the position on Rose Hill, to persuade Gaston to stay with the Rams. Penn bucked Styczynski's "interim coaches never get the nod" trend when they elevated Jerome Allen to full-time head coaching status. Given the state of the economy in the first and second quarters of 2009, economics may well have played a role in delaying the exits of Miller, Wainwright and Whittenburg.

By the Numbers...
Through April 9, there have been 37 head coaching vacancies among the 348 D1 programs. Given that 33 occurred before the National Championship game was played, the total number of vacancies in this cycle will probably reach 45-to-50 positions, well above last year (36), but well below 2007's all-time high of 60. Typical of the post tournament phase (though admittedly the sample size is very small), vacancies this week were initiated more by coaches (3-to-1) than by Administrators, in contrast to in-season and during the post season, when Administrators initiate the vacancies (25-to-7).

Rumors, Unfinished Business
As of this afternoon, the Rutgers situation continues unresolved, though it appears that for Hill the question has become "When" rather than "If".

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: St. Bonaventure at Fordham

by Ray Floriani

BRONX, NY- In a game that saw 13 ties and a dozen lead changes, St.Bonaventure edged Fordham 73-68 at Rose Hill.

In a 71possession (St. Bona 73 Fordham 69) game, the Efficiency and Factors:

			FTM
	ORtg	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
St. Bona	100	48	27	33	16
Fordham	99	43	33	28	16

Bonaventure has cut down on the turnover nemesis which has been a problem the past few seasons. Bonnies are under 20% in A-10 play in turnover rate and took care of the ball well.

Rebounding and defense, per coach Mark Schmidt, were the keys to the Bona victory. In raw numbers Bonaventure enjoyed a 41-35 edge on the glass and Fordham shot 37% for the contest.

Bonnies had a 44-26 edge on scoring in the paint and a 17-6 margin in second chance points.

Significant. Andrew Nicholson, the Bonnies sophomore center and inside threat, scored five points and fouled out after logging 22 minutes. Nicholson was not feeling well but gave it a go. As Schmidt also noted it’s significant to get a road win when a player of Nicholson’s stature is not a big factor.

Jon Hall led all scorers with a 24 point night. The Bonaventure guard also added 8 boards.

Chris Gaston of Fordham posted 18 points and 13 rebounds. Gaston did commit 5 turnovers which can be somewhat excused to having defenders double down on him on the blocks and the fact he had to log the full 40 minutes.

Brenton Butler led Fordham with 20 points but was 5 of 15 ( 2 of 7 from three) from the floor.

Lance Brown was out for Fordham but Herb Tanner filled in at guard scoring nine points. His trey at the first half Buzzer gave the Rams a 35-34 lead.

Bonnies limited Fordham to 14 of 36 shooting (39%) from two point range. On the offensive end Bonaventure shot 52% from two point range (27 of 52) and wisely attempted only seven treys while hitting one. Bonnies struggled at the line going 16 of 30.

Always impressed with the hustle of freshman forward Fahro Alihodzic of Fordham. There are nights, as tonight, though he is not a big factor. Alihodzic scored 4 points with 3 rebounds in 22 minutes.

Living with prosperity. Something Bonaventure had had trouble with especially away from home, having dropped heartbreakers at Duquesne and St.Louis earlier. Bonaventure led by seven with 90 seconds to play and proceeded to shoot 2 of 7 from the line. On the other end the Rams could get no closer than a four point deficit.

Elerby. The ‘Bonaventure Bandwagon’ - the fan’s chat room has been extremely critical of junior guard Malcolm Elerby. Granted he hasn’t had a consistently solid year but at Rose Hill his play was good. He scored 10 points (4 of 8 from the line was not great), added 5 assists and made some nice defensive plays. Watching him, I saw a lot of good things as noted. All of a sudden he passes on the wing and sends the ball almost onto Arthur Avenue. You can hear the Bandwagon group let out a collective groan. Elerby must have a friend on the stat crew as he was listed for zero turnovers.

Records. Bonnies are 12-14 (5-8 in A-10). Fordham is 2-24 (0-14).

“I didn’t expect us to pull away . Fordham plays very hard and will never quit. I thought (Jon) Hall was they key for us tonight.“ - St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt

“We got hammered at URI but responded with two great practices. Tonight we didn’t get the loose balls, block out at times and make the plays we needed in the stretch.“ - Fordham interim coach Jared Grasso

St. Bonaventure Coach Mark Schmidt

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: La Salle at Fordham

by Ray Floriani

BRONX, NY - They are getting closer. With just over a minute to go it was a one possession game. Fordham never could draw even and laSalle hit their free throws to seal an 80-73 victory at Rose Hill.

The efficiency and factors in a 74 possession game.

	Off		FTA
	Eff	eFG%	FGA	OReb%	TO%
LaSalle	108	59	27	25	22
Fordham	99	45	22	33	19

Key stats not in the box score:

	La Salle	Fordham
Fast Break Points	18	6
Points in the Paint	40	34

Points in the paint and fast break points are closely related. Simply because you want to finish your transition opportunities by going to the basket. Interestingly when Joe Bryant (Kobe’s dad) played for the La Salle in the mid Seventies, the 6-9 dynamo aka ‘jelly bean’ would often finish a fast break with a 25 footer (and there was no three point shot in college during that time). Back then ‘jelly bean’ had the benefit of the proverbial green light but that’s another story and era.

La Salle did their best to pound it inside. For the most part the Explorers were in an attack the basket mode. They attempted only 7 threes (hit three) out of their 55 field goal attempts. A main reason their eFG% percentage was extremely high.

Rebounding, a La Salle strong point, saw the Rams as the victors. Rebounding is the result of hard work and hustle, further evidence of how hard Jared Grasso has his team playing even during a long season. Another factor in the rebounding (Rams had a 13-7 offensive edge) was the play of Chris Gaston. The Fordham freshman added 15 rebounds (8 offensive) to his team high 21 points.

In a showcase of outstanding young talent, La Salle’s outstanding freshman Aaric Murray led all scorers with 24 points while adding 7 rebounds and blocking four shots. The efficiency numbers of two of the conference’s brightest first year stars. (Efficiency adds points, rebounds, blocks, steals and assists while subtracting turnovers and all missed shots).

	Efficiency
	Offense	Per Min
Murray	25	0.694
Gaston	30	0.968

Gaston was a perfect 7 of 7 from the line while Murray had a similar percentage , going 3 of 3. Gaston logged 30 minutes before fouling out but another Fordham first year player , Fahro Alihodzic added 12 points to help the Rams’ inside game.

Brenton Butler scored 12 for Fordham but was 3 of 15 (1 of 8 from three point range) from the field. Rodney Green, LaSalle’s outstanding senior guard had an interesting line. Green added 16 points, 5 assists and tied Murray for the team rebound lead with 7.

LaSalle is now 11-9, 3-3 in the Atlantic Ten while Fordham drops to 2-17, 0-7.

“He is a beast inside. He does everything he can to help his team. He doesn’t take a night off.” - LaSalle coach John Giannini on Chris Gaston of Fordham.