It was quite a homecoming for Branden Frazier.
Frazier, a Brooklyn native who played his high school ball at Bishop Loughlin, scored all of Fordham’s points in a 13-4 run over a 2 1/2-minute stretch late in the second half, and assisted on the go-ahead basket in the Rams’ 63-60 come-from-behind win over Princeton yesterday in the first leg of a triple-header at Barclays Center.
“Coach [Tom Pecora] was saying the last game that I wasn’t being aggressive,” Frazier said. “I was trying to attack them as much as I could, get into the lane and look for my shot or find the open guy.”
The Rams (2-8) trailed 56-46 with three minutes remaining when they embarked on a furious comeback. During the run, Frazier hit two layups, a 3-pointer and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. After Frazier’s solo 13-4 stretch, Fordham scored the final four points to secure the victory.
“I was happy for [Frazier],” Pecora said. “He went to school four blocks from here, he’s a Brooklyn kid, so for him to come back and to play that way in Barclays is special, especially in the first year. This building has to be special for Fordham.”
With just under 30 seconds left to play and Fordham down one, Frazier, who scored a game-high 19 points, attacked the basket once more. This time, however, he dished the ball off to sophomore center Ryan Canty, who scored an easy layup to give the Rams the lead for good.
“Ryan bailed me out on that last one and I just saw him at the last minute,” Frazier said.
For Canty, who finished with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds in his second straight double-double, the layup was a reprieve after he missed a layup and a dunk in the minutes before the Rams’ comeback.
“I was just thinking about the missed dunk and easy layup so I was just trying to make sure I made that one,” Canty said. “When I saw him drive I knew I needed to be under the basket to put whatever in that he threw me,” Canty said. “I was happy, I knew we had it then.”
Fordham was able to put Princeton (3-6) away on a pair of free throws from Bryan Smith (seven points) with 1.2 seconds remaining.
The Rams were boosted by the return of star senior forward Chris Gaston, who has missed the past month while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Gaston, one of the team’s few upperclassmen, finished with 16 points in 32 minutes of play, but his presence helped calm a Rams team that had lost five straight.
“Branden has been trying to do so much and it’s hard to try and do that alone,” Pecora said. “That’s why having Chris on the floor is so important. He knows what we’re in, what we’re trying to run and he can settle us in at different times. His presence there was great. Chris is a big part of this.”
Princeton, which normally shoots 33 percent from beyond the arc, started the game 2-for-16 before it rattled off three straight treys to take a 54-43 lead with 5:25 remaining. The Tigers were was led by Ian Hummer’s 18 points.
Hummer missed a desperation 3-pointer as time expired that would have tied the game.“We were a team desperate for a win,” Pecora said. “I feel good about them, I know I’m crazy but we’re not a bad 2-8 team.”
With UConn on the schedule before it returns to Rose Hill to face Siena, Pecora admitted Fordham needed a win against Princeton, but this isn’t your typical 2-8 team.