It was a game of pick your poison for the Rams at Rose Hill on Wednesday night.
Fordham was unable to handle the dual threats that Cody Ellis and Dwayne Evans gave St. Louis as the Billikens battered the Rams 90-73.
The duo of Ellis and Evans combined to score 46 points for the Billikens (17-5, 6-2 A-10), with Ellis providing pinpoint accuracy from beyond the arc and Evans asserting his dominance in the low post.
“I had concerns coming into this game because of [St. Louis’] style of play, physicality and experience,” Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said. “I thought it was men against boys. I thought that they executed the heck out of it.”
As dreary of a loss as Pecora made it sound, the Rams (6-17, 2-6) were in the game for a little while. After freshman guard Mandell Thomas sank two free throws with just over seven minutes the play in the first half, Fordham and St. Louis were tied at 22.
And then Ellis erupted.
The 6-foot-8 senior scored 14 straight points for St. Louis, including four 3-pointers, as the Billikens opened up an eight-point lead that it would easily carry for the rest of the game.
“It’s the second game in a row that we’ve earmarked shooters,” Pecora said. “We talked about not letting Ellis get good looks. He’s a really good player, he’s a perfect stretch four-man. He had his way with us tonight.”
Fordham adjusted in the second half by bringing in Luka Zivkovic, who finished with a career-high nine points, to stick to Ellis, but it left a glaring weakness in the low post with a guard matched up against the 6-foot-5 Evans.
The same way Ellis went off for St. Louis in the first half, Evans did for the Billikens in the second half. Evans scored 12 of the next 14 points for St. Louis, finally putting the game out of reach for Fordham.
“Evans just killed us in the post,” Pecora said. “What Evans does is he takes [the bigs] away from the basket if you try and play him big. It was a very difficult matchup on the baseline.”
There were few bright spots for Fordham. In addition to Zivkovic picking up a career-high in points, Thomas finished with a career-high 22 points and Travion Leonard provided solid play in the post in the first half.
“Mandell Thomas was a bright spot offensively,” Pecora said. “I’m going to play guys that continue to compete. I’ll play Luka [Zivkovic] if he’s going to make shots. Maybe we’ll [get him some minutes] Saturday [against La Salle]. Him and Travion [Leonard] could be the four and five.”
Playing without senior forward Chris Gaston, St. Louis was able to hone in on Branden Frazier, who has struggled as of late. Frazier, the team’s lone junior and one of just three upperclassmen, shot just 2-of-10 from the field. Frazier is a combined 4-of-22 with just 17 points in his last two games.
“It’s the second game in a row that Branden Frazier has struggled with people getting into him and being physical,” Pecora said. “That’s part of maturing. With greatness comes responsibility and with greatness comes being a marked man. He has got to learn to respond if he is going to make that step and become a great player.”
Fordham now travels on the road to play against La Salle and Xavier before returning home to face nationally-ranked Butler. By all accounts the Rams will have to steal at least two more wins to nab a spot in next month’s Atlantic-10 tournament at Barclays Center.
“We gave away two games that we had a chance to win at home and that will bite us in the tail at the end of the season,” Pecora said. “If you can’t run with the big dogs, don’t get off the porch. That’s life in the A-10.”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com