Tom Pecora could see where this was going.
The 16-point hole in which his Fordham Rams had found themselves when the second half began yesterday against St. John’s at the Garden had evaporated to a three-point deficit, conjuring up memories of a year ago, when the Rams stunned the Red Storm by coming back from 21 points down on the way to victory.
Pecora told his team simply to “hang around.” And it almost worked.
“Even going into the half, it’s a three-possession game,” Pecora said. “It was just about us stringing some stops together.”
In the end, it wasn’t meant to be, as St. John’s held on for a 56-50 triumph in the Garden Holiday Festival.
But the Rams (4-6) were successful to a degree in using the energy of the pulsating Garden to their advantage during their comeback.
“I felt the crowd and in the last few minutes when the crowd got into it I had that same feeling as last year,” Gaston said. “We were all just getting really pumped, we fed off the crowd and were playing hard.”
Gaston credited Fordham’s late-game surge to smart, zoned-in play from the Rams’ young guards, including freshman Bryan Smith, whose eight points all came in the second half.
“We had like seven minutes left where we started making a comeback [and] they just stayed focused, didn’t turn the ball over,” Gaston said.
“They were trying to move the ball over and take good shots.’’
The Rams’ late rally fell short and Pecora said he saw plenty of room for improvement.
“I wasn’t thrilled with our energy,” he said. “I threw them out of practice yesterday, but we all know that’s an old coaching ploy.
“Our guys were a little stressed and they didn’t have a great week of practice, but it’s no excuse.
“You cannot have a bad practice before a game like this and think you’re going to win.”