Fordham began yesterday’s game against George Washington with star forward Chris Gaston on the bench, but that didn’t stop the Rams from ending a two-game losing streak.
The Rams, coming off a two-game road trip that saw Fordham lose to St. Bonaventure and Richmond by a combined 88 points, beat the Colonials 63-58 at Rose Hill Gym.
“For us at home: When we’re good, we’re good; when we’re bad, we’re bad,” Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said. “Step one in this process of what we’re trying to do here is become a winning team at home.”
The Rams (9-11, 2-5 Atlantic 10), who were led by 20 points from Branden Frazier, played the majority of the first half without Gaston, who was limited to only three minutes before halftime because he had been late to a team meeting.
“Chris is a very good player, he’s got to understand that there’s responsibility with who he is and what he’s supposed to be doing for this team,” Pecora said. “We’re just not going to do business that way.”
Gaston played the entire second half, scoring 14 of his 16 points, and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Gaston hit four free throws in the final 52 seconds to give Fordham the lead for good.
“Chris Gaston sinking free throws for us at the end of the game was huge for us.” Pecora said.
The Rams were able to contain Tony Taylor of George Washington (8-13, 3-4) in the game’s closing minutes thanks to Frazier’s defense. Taylor, who graduated from Stepinac High School, finished with 17 points, but was stopped late when Pecora moved Frazier over to cover him.
Frazier contested a 3-point shot from Taylor with four seconds left that helped close out the win for the Rams.
“I just thought that I could contain [Taylor]. I knew he was going to pull up for a 3,” Frazier said. “I knew I would have to contest it, get up as high as I could and he missed the shot.”