These days, Tom Pecora mantras are about all that run through the Rose Hill Gym more frequently than Ram victories. One of his favorites: “You’re only as good as your seniors.” Well that’s exactly how good the maroon and white were this evening as they rode a season-high performance from Alberto Estwick to their first conference victory of the season, defeating Rhode Island 66-64 in the Bronx.
I’m usually not one to overhype regular season games. I scolded Jets fans vociferously a year ago when they spoke of a week two win over the Patriots as if their team had just won the Super Bowl. I cringe in horror each year as Mets and Yankees supporters treat the Subway Series as something more than a relatively meaningless interleague series that has little to no playoff implications. Perhaps more than anything else in this world, I hate bracketology, a pseudoscientific term for writing off teams’ postseason hopes three games into the conference season.
With the Fordham Rams in the midst of a three game losing streak, head coach Tom Pecora sat down with Mike Giandomenico and myself Saturday on One on One. Pecora spoke on a wide range of topic from his teams 1-7 mark on the road to this season’s spectacular victory at home over the ranked Harvard Crimson.
Langston Galloway tied a career high with 30 points on 10-14 shooting, including 7-9 from beyond the arc, as St. Joe’s downed Fordham 80-62 in the Hagan Arena Wednesday night. The Achilles heel for the Rams came in the form of field goal percentage on both sides of the ball.
With expectations high after knocking off Georgia Tech and #22 ranked Harvard in their last two home games, Fordham came up a little short Saturday afternoon when hosting the team that’s been the class of the A-10 for the past decade, the Xavier Musketeers. In a back and forth game, the young Rams yielded to the Musketeers 67-59, falling to 7-8 on the season and 0-2 in the Atlantic 10.
Fordham’s first loss in four tries had some eerily similarities to the last time the Rams dropped a contest. A few weeks back against St. John’s in Madison Square Garden, the Red Storm went on an 18-0 run midway through the game to build a lead that proved insurmountable in the end. Last night in Amherst, Massachusetts, UMass, leading by just one at the intermission, rattled off a 14-0 tear in just over three minutes early in the second half.
When the final horn blared upon 3,200 crazed fans at the Rose Hill Gym on Thursday night, it seemed as though Fordham’s six-point victory over Georgia Tech would be the Ram’s blue chip triumph in 2011-2012, a sign that Head Coach Tom Pecora was indeed moving the maroon and white toward better days. Who knew the encore would be more impressive? Last night, college basketball’s oldest venue watched its 86-year tenant trip up a ranked team at home for the first time since 1978 when they defeated Georgetown.
Next time you bump into Fordham Head Coach Tom Pecora – and you can often find him about the Rose Hill Campus – ask him about the direction of the Rams Men’s Basketball program; he will invariably tell you, “We’re building something, it’s a process.” On Thursday night at the Rose Hill Gym, Fordham laid another portion of the foundation with a 72-66 victory over Georgia Tech, their first triumph over an ACC opponent since 2005.
Coming off a loss at the Garden on Saturday to St. John's, the Fordham Rams couldn't wait to get back to their home floor, where three of their four wins had come this season. Apparently no one missed the friendly confines of Rose Hill more than Chris Gaston, who set a career high in points and tied a season high in rebounds.
They almost did it again. One year after overcoming a 21-point second half deficit to beat St. John’s at the Rose Hill Gym, on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, Fordham chopped a 16-point deficit down to just three but could get no closer in a 56-50 loss at the hands of the Red Storm.
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