Fordham’s Cinderella Story?

Fordham’s Cinderella Story?

Rams Win First Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Game Since 2007

By Howard Goldin

BRONX NEWS, MARCH 13- As this year’s Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament included all teams in the conference, the last place Fordham Rams were given an opportunity to participate. The Rams last took part in the tourney in 2008. Their most recent tournament victory was a 63-61 win over the Richmond Spiders in 2007. Thus, Fordham’s (10-20) defeat of the George Mason Patriots (11-20) on Wednesday night at Barclays Center was a source of pride and satisfaction to the team and staff, Fordham students, alumni and its fans.

A free throw by 6-8 junior Erik Copes of George Mason began the scoring. A jump shot by Brooklyn native Bryan Smith of the Rams gave Fordham its first advantage at 18:58. Fordham kept that lead throughout the game. An 18-9 scoring run by the Rams capped by a jumper by freshman Jon Severe at 11:32 raised the Fordham lead to double figures for the first time in the contest. Four times later in the first half the Rams reached their highest advantage of the contest, 11 points. The Rams led, 33-26, at the half.

Early in the second half, six unanswered points by Fordham allowed the Rams to again achieve an 11 point lead, 29-28, at 17:16. A 15-5 run by the Patriots mid-way through the second half cut the deficit to a single point , 48-47 with 9:02 remaining in the game. 

In the final minute of the game, nine players had opportunities from the free throw line. Five fouls were committed by George Mason with the hope of catching up to Fordham in the last 60 seconds. Four Patriots were also sent to the charity stripe by Fordham fouls even though the Rams were leading. 

Fordham coach Tom Pecora commented on his strategy, “I’m a convert [to fouling to prevent a basket from being scored]. You got to foul. They’re so good in shooting.” 

Free throws were a factor in Fordham’s 70-67 victory. In the first half, Fordham missed its only free throw attempt. In the second half, the Rams netted 21 of 31 from the charity stripe. In contrast, the Patriots only had 17 free throw attempts and sunk 11 of the shots, a 10 point disadvantage in a game they lost by three. Of the calls, Pecora said he advised his team, “Do everything hard. You can get the respect of the officials.”

Fordham controlled the boards, 50-42, thanks to the rebounding of Ryan Canty, who pulled down 19 boards. Pecora opined, “It was a career night for Ryan Canty. He’s a great rebounder.  Senior Branden Frazier surmised, “He [Canty] enjoys rebounding and the team feeds off that.” 

For Brooklyn natives Frazier and Smith of Fordham the trip home was very meaningful. Frazier remarked, “I grew up down the block. Being in Brooklyn helped us a lot.” Smith was especially pleased to see family and friends in the arena, “A lot of people who couldn’t come to Fordham to see me came here today.”

Of the two, Pecora said, “It took guts for them to come to Fordham. They were highly recruited.” 

Fordham advances to play the 5^th seed, the Dayton flyers, on Thursday afternoon. 

Tags: Fordham, Rams, Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament

Class of 2014 Inducted into Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame

(Photos by Ken Carozza)

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 15- Successful athletic teams and athletic heroes are important to every college and university. They serve as a unifying factor among the student body; are an encouragement for increased donations from alumni; are sources of pride to current students and alumni and can be inducements for prospective students to enroll.

Many colleges and universities have created athletic halls of fame to recognize past student-athletes who have excelled in their sports and added respect and interest to the institutions they have attended. 

The Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame has been in existence for more than 40 years. The first induction took place during the 1970-71 academic year and included honorees such as Frankie “Fordham Flash” Frisch and Vince Lombardi. 

This year’s induction was held at the McGinley Center Ballroom on Fordham’s Bronx campus on January 11, in the late afternoon between the men’s and women’s basketball contests of Fordham and Richmond. Eleven former Rams were honored. One track star, Jack Faith (’68), was previously inducted 34 years ago. 

The other 10 former Rams added to the HOF represent a total of six sports programs. Jim Groark (67), Brian Hernon (67) and Don May (68) were teammates of Faith on the remarkable 1967 Two-Mile Relay Team. The foursome broke both the Fordham and Penn Relay marks for their specialty. It was later pointed out that May made the furthest journey, from Alaska, to receive his award.

The baseball and basketball teams each had two representatives on the Class of 2014. Both Tom Davis (08) and Cory Riordan (12) were pitchers. Davis was selected as Pitcher of the Year by the Atlantic-10 in his senior year. He graduated with the Fordham record for starts (50) and innings (339). 

Riordan was voted as the Rookie of the Year by the Atlantic-10 in his freshman year when he compiled a 10-4 mark. He completed his career at Fordham with a 21-11 record and 200 strikeouts in 246 innings. 

The award for Bryant Dunstan (08), currently playing basketball professionally in Greece, was accepted by his dad. Dunstan compiled stats among the best in the school’s basketball history. He is second in points with 1,832, 54 less than the legendary Ed Conlin, fourth in rebounds with 993 and first in blocks, 246.  

Mobolaji Akiode (04) received Fordham’s most prestigious honor for female athletes, the 2003 Claire Hobbs Award as female athlete of the year. She represented her native land, Nigeria, in the Olympic Games. Of even greater importance is her founding Hope 4 Girls, a charity that is dedicated to raising opportunities for African female youths in education and sports.

Ben Dato (08) was the kicker on the football team in his years at Fordham. In his senior year he received the Vincent T. Lombardi Award as male athlete of the year. He amassed the most yards punting at Fordham.

Allison Twarowski (08) was an outstanding batter in her four seasons on a successful softball team. She graduated holding several school batting marks, hits (251), runs (181), doubles (44) and runs batted in (45).

Robert Valdes-Rodriguez (86) three times set school marks for the 100 butterfly and qualified for the NCAA tournament several times. He is currently chairman of the NYAC swim team.

Valdes-Rodriguez articulately gave the response of the Class of 2014. He gave thanks to “the Jesuit university, the coaches and the professors who helped us balance our faith, academics and athletics.” 

Athletic Director David Roach began the event by saying to the honorees, “Your achievements and your total lives are a shining example to the current student-athletes.”

The television voice of the New York Yankees, Michael Kay (82), ably served, as he does every year, as the emcee of the ceremony. Kay, on the day of the announcement of the suspension of Alex Rodriguez, joked about Rodriguez having enough time on his hand to enroll at Fordham and perhaps be considered for this HOF next year.

Father Joseph McShane, the Fordham president, officially closed the ceremony with a tribute to the new members of the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame, “Wise men and women of Fordham, we honor you for your wisdom, and your generosity to Fordham. We hold you up as models for our students, role models and sources of inspiration.” 

Rams Victorious in Fordham Holiday Classic

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 31- Aficionados of college women’s basketball in the Bronx had an opportunity to attend two doubleheaders shortly before the close of 2013 as the 7^th annual Fordham Holiday Classic was held on the afternoons of December 29 and December 30 at the Rose Hill Gym. As in the previous six years, the invitees included teams from a wide area of the nation and from several conferences. 

In the opening contest on Sunday afternoon, the Fordham Rams easily triumphed over the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) Spartans, 79-48. The Rams began aggressively by scoring the first eight points. At 11:35, Fordham reached its first double digit lead of the contest, 15-5. They increased their lead at the half to 39-20. 

Mid-way through the second half, Fordham increased its advantage to an insurmountable 67-34. Fordham’s experienced and classy coach, Stephanie Gaitley, gave all the reserves on its bench an opportunity to see action and to ensure that the visiting team from the South was not treated to an even more embarrassing defeat.

Erin Rooney paced the Rams, nearly achieving a triple double with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in only 27 minutes on court. 

The closing game of day #1 was the first meeting between the Harvard Crimson and the Tulsa Hurricanes. The two teams battled competitively on a court foreign to both. Control of the boards, 44 rebounds to 32, and six additional points from the charity stripe gave the 61-57 victory to Harvard.

The consolation contest between Tulsa and UNCG opened the second day of the tourney. The game was hard fought and evenly played by two teams that never previously faced one another. Tulsa led throughout most of the first half, but the Spartans took a 27-26 lead with four minutes left in the half. The Hurricanes followed with 10 unanswered points, and led at the half, 36-32.

After knotting the score at 38 early in the second half, the Spartans remained behind for the remainder of the game. They cut the Tulsa advantage to a single point on four occasions, but could not again equal the Tulsa point total. The Hurricanes won, 76-71.

The title contest of the two-day tourney was between Fordham and Harvard. Interestingly, the two men’s teams of the same universities met in the same Bronx venue two nights earlier. The Rams’ ability from beyond the arc furnished them an advantage during the opening half. Five of Fordham’s first six baskets were from downtown and allowed the Rams to lead, 20-12 at 7:47. A basket and a free throw by Emily Tapio brought Fordham its first double figure advantage of the game, 25-14, at 5:56. 

Fordham never lost the double figure advantage again during the contest. During the final two minutes of the game, Fordham, in the person of Abigail Corning, outscored the Crimson, 6-1, to raise its final score lead to a game high 20 points, 64-44. The win was the 10^th straight for the Rams, equaling a mark last accomplished in the 1978-79 season. They are undefeated at home, 7-0.

Corning had an impressive game for the Rams, grabbing 12 boards, scoring 9 and dishing 6 assists. Rooney led all scorers in the contest with 19.

Corning and Rooney were named to the All-Tournament team along with Janaé Stevenson of UNCG, Mariah Turner of Tulsa and Temi Fagbenle of Harvard. 

The women of Fordham next see action on the evening of January 2 in the Bronx versus Saint Louis. It will be Fordham’s first Atlantic-10 conference game of the season. 

Rams Victorious in Fordham Holiday Classic

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 31- Aficionados of college women’s basketball in the Bronx had an opportunity to attend two doubleheaders shortly before the close of 2013 as the 7^th annual Fordham Holiday Classic was held on the afternoons of December 29 and December 30 at the Rose Hill Gym. As in the previous six years, the invitees included teams from a wide area of the nation and from several conferences. 

In the opening contest on Sunday afternoon, the Fordham Rams easily triumphed over the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) Spartans, 79-48. The Rams began aggressively by scoring the first eight points. At 11:35, Fordham reached its first double digit lead of the contest, 15-5. They increased their lead at the half to 39-20. 

Mid-way through the second half, Fordham increased its advantage to an insurmountable 67-34. Fordham’s experienced and classy coach, Stephanie Gaitley, gave all the reserves on its bench an opportunity to see action and to ensure that the visiting team from the South was not treated to an even more embarrassing defeat.

Erin Rooney paced the Rams, nearly achieving a triple double with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in only 27 minutes on court. 

The closing game of day #1 was the first meeting between the Harvard Crimson and the Tulsa Hurricanes. The two teams battled competitively on a court foreign to both. Control of the boards, 44 rebounds to 32, and six additional points from the charity stripe gave the 61-57 victory to Harvard.

The consolation contest between Tulsa and UNCG opened the second day of the tourney. The game was hard fought and evenly played by two teams that never previously faced one another. Tulsa led throughout most of the first half, but the Spartans took a 27-26 lead with four minutes left in the half. The Hurricanes followed with 10 unanswered points, and led at the half, 36-32.

After knotting the score at 38 early in the second half, the Spartans remained behind for the remainder of the game. They cut the Tulsa advantage to a single point on four occasions, but could not again equal the Tulsa point total. The Hurricanes won, 76-71.

The title contest of the two-day tourney was between Fordham and Harvard. Interestingly, the two men’s teams of the same universities met in the same Bronx venue two nights earlier. The Rams’ ability from beyond the arc furnished them an advantage during the opening half. Five of Fordham’s first six baskets were from downtown and allowed the Rams to lead, 20-12 at 7:47. A basket and a free throw by Emily Tapio brought Fordham its first double figure advantage of the game, 25-14, at 5:56. 

Fordham never lost the double figure advantage again during the contest. During the final two minutes of the game, Fordham, in the person of Abigail Corning, outscored the Crimson, 6-1, to raise its final score lead to a game high 20 points, 64-44. The win was the 10^th straight for the Rams, equaling a mark last accomplished in the 1978-79 season. They are undefeated at home, 7-0.

Corning had an impressive game for the Rams, grabbing 12 boards, scoring 9 and dishing 6 assists. Rooney led all scorers in the contest with 19.

Corning and Rooney were named to the All-Tournament team along with Janaé Stevenson of UNCG, Mariah Turner of Tulsa and Temi Fagbenle of Harvard. 

The women of Fordham next see action on the evening of January 2 in the Bronx versus Saint Louis. It will be Fordham’s first Atlantic-10 conference game of the season.