Junior forward Chris Gaston scored a career-high 35 points in Fordham’s 81-70 win over Texas State on Thursday night.
Gaston added 15 rebounds to pick up his ninth double-double this season and 45th of his career, helping the Rams improve to 4-1 at home and 5-6 overall.
“I was working really hard out there, it feels amazing, it feels good and I’m happy we were able to get the win,” Gaston said.
Coming off of a disappointing 56-50 loss to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, the Rams were able to slow down Texas State, which came into Rose Hill Gym with the nation’s ninth-highest scoring offense.
“We slowed them down, we basically used our defense to slow teams down,” Gaston said. “A team like that wants to run up and down, we made them play our tempo not play theirs. We kept them from doing what they wanted to do.”
Fordham jumped out to an early 10-1 advantage and led by as many as 25 in the second half. The comfortable lead allowed for the pressure to slide off of Gaston’s shoulders.
“We were up most of the game so I kept going with the flow. We were up big so I was just going with the game. I didn’t feel any pressure on me,” Gaston said.
Fordham head coach Tom Pecora praised his star forward, who made the game a whole lot easier for not only his teammates, but Pecora as well.
“It’s much easier obviously when you shoot 13-for-16 from the floor. He [Gaston] got good looks, he took Chris Gaston shots, he was patient and he did a good job ball faking, getting rid of the double-team and making strong moves,” Pecora said. “Good offense is inside out, when you get the ball inside and suck teams in, you’ll get good looks and make shots.”
Pecora said he was proud of his team for accomplishing the series of goals he sets for them for every game. Pecora has stressed all season that his young Rams need to play complete games and this was the closest he has seen to them achieving that.
“We have game goals. One being plus-8 on the backboards, holding your opponent to under 40 percent defensive field goal percentage, no individual player on the other team scores 20 points, make more free throws than your opponent attempts, and 14 or less turnovers,” Pecora said. “It’s the first game we’ve achieved all of those goals and that’s why we won.”
It wasn’t all good news for the Rams; senior forward Kervin Bristol was forced out with what the team is calling a grade-two ankle sprain.
Bristol, who leads the Rams in shots blocked, had eight rebounds and three blocks in 12 minutes before the ankle injury sidelined him.
“Kervin’s a big difference because he can block shots and you can take some chances defensively when he’s back there. He does a good job of not only blocking but keeping them in play,” Pecora said.
Though Bristol’s status is uncertain, he will have time to heal. The Rams have almost a full week off before Georgia Tech (7-5) visits.
“We’ll enjoy Christmas and then we’ll get ready for a Georgia Tech team that’s coming here,” Pecora said. “The place is going to be rocking and it’s good to come off a win and a performance like he [Gaston] had.”