By DAN GARTLAND
STAFF WRITER
It took five tries, but the Fordham men’s basketball team finally won its first conference game of the season. The Rams snapped a six-game losing streak with a 76-70 win over Atlantic 10 newcomer George Mason last Wednesday at Rose Hill Gym.
Fordham stumbled out of the gate against George Mason, falling behind 16-7 in the game’s first eight minutes. Fordham head coach Tom Pecora, upset with his team’s effort, decided to swap out all five players on the floor, replacing starters with reserves, including seldom-used former walk-on Khalid Robinson.
“I heard some guy behind me scream, ‘What are you, crazy?’” Pecora said. “If you put them in and [the other team goes] on a 10-0 run, the game’s over. But I thought they competed and I knew they would play hard.”
It was a risky move, but it paid off. The players got Pecora’s message and quickly narrowed the deficit.
“I ran those five in there just to shake things up a little bit, and they did,” he said. “When that first group came back in, they played with greater intensity, so that was good.”
Star freshman Jon Severe led the charge for Fordham and finished the first half with 16 of Fordham’s 30 points, as the Rams trailed by only one, 31-30, at the break.
Fordham was sluggish again to start the second half. Five minutes into the half, the Patriots had already extended their lead to 10.
Fordham’s offense picked up momentum as the half wore on, slowly chipping away at George Mason’s advantage. Finally, a three from Bryan Smith gave the Rams their first lead of the second half with 8:32 left on the clock.
Fordham never trailed again.
George Mason made things interesting, though. A three from Patrick Holloway cut the Fordham lead to two, 70-68, with 38 seconds left, but his attempt to tie it 13 seconds later went nowhere.
The Patriots still had life, trailing 72-68 with 19 seconds remaining, but Severe came up with a timely steal, was fouled and headed to the line for two shots. He hit both to wrap up a 76-70 victory.
George Mason head coach Paul Hewitt was frustrated that his team’s elusive first conference win had slipped away once again.
“We had chances to score and didn’t cash in,” he said bluntly. “They had chances to score and they did.”
After struggling to shoot the ball well in previous games, Fordham’s scorers finally found their strokes.
“We shot 56 percent in the second half, and obviously [that makes it] a different world,” Pecora said.
Fordham senior guard Branden Frazier was particularly impressive. After being held scoreless in the first half, he scored 22 of Fordham’s 46 second half points.
“I think in the first half I was just a little too anxious to score,” Frazier said. “I think I was rushing it a little bit too much in the first half. Then in the second half, during the break I just sort of calmed down. I knew that I was going to get shots in the offense, and it came to me. I started knocking them down and gaining more confidence.”
Any momentum Fordham may have gained from the win was quickly lost in a blowout loss to No. 13 UMass. The Minutemen overwhelmed Fordham 90-52, dropping the Rams to 1-5 in the conference.
“It’s a grind, but that’s what it’s like in any good conference, and this conference is better than it’s ever been, in my opinion,” Pecora said. “I mean, you have nine teams in the top hundred [nationally] in this league. I don’t know if we’ve ever had that in the three years that I’ve been here.”
Fordham’s next challenge comes Jan. 29 on the road against VCU (16-4), before a home game against Rhode Island (11-10) on Feb. 1.