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.