Brenton Butler (fordhamsports.com)

According to the polls, the Dayton Flyers are worthy of Top 25 consideration. At 13-3, 2-0 in conference play, Dayton, the Atlantic 10′s pre-season favorite, has gotten off to a good start in a season that started with all sorts of high expectations.

On Wednesday night, the Flyers met Fordham under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, in a game that got underway after 9:30, following St. John’s impressive win over Cincinnati.

For the third time in three conference games, the Rams battled and kept things close, taking a lead on Dayton early in the second half. But the Flyers, with all their talent and experience, got things going down the stretch to cruise to a 74-58 win in Fordham’s only scheduled game this year at the Garden.

“I thought the kids played hard again, but Dayton was able to constantly bring in fresh players from the bench,” Fordham head coach Jared Grasso said, as reported by fordhamsports.com. “I’m proud of our effort, but we have to be 40 minutes good, not 25 or 30.”

Ten players for Dayton played double-figure minutes, while Fordham (2-13, 0-3) relied mostly on Brenton Butler (20 points), Alberto Estwick (10 points), and Chris Gaston (10 points, six rebounds) to compete with the Flyers.

The Rams trailed by five at the half, 31-26, but went on a 10-2 run to take a 36-35 lead with 17:48 left in the game. The game was tied at 38-38 before the Fordham offense began to struggle, and the Flyers took off from there.

Charles Costello

Lance Brown (fordhamsports.com)

When you turn the ball over 20 times, and get outscored at the free-throw line, 24-3, you’re going to have a tough time winning a college basketball game. That is what Fordham experienced late Saturday afternoon in its 82-69 loss to St. Joseph’s at the Hagan Arena in Philadelphia.

The Hawks (5-9, 1-1) scored 23 points off the Rams’ turnovers, and they made 18 free throws in the second half. Fordham (2-12, 0-2) did not attempt a single free throw in the game’s final 20 minutes.Remarkably, the Rams outrebounded St. Joseph’s, 46-30, and made 30 field goals to the Hawks’ 24. But the turnovers and free-throw differential were too much for Fordham to overcome.

Fahro Alihodzic scored a career-high 16 points to lead the Rams. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Brenton Butler had 13 points, while Lance Brown added 11 points. Chris Gaston had nine points and ten rebounds in the loss.

Fordham led 43-37 at the half. St. Joseph’s scored nine in a row late in the game, and hit their final eight free throws with under two minutes to play to secure the win.

Charles Costello

Brenton Butler scored a career-high 31 points in Wednesday's loss. (fordhamsports.com)

There was good news out of Amherst Tuesday night, and for once, it had to do with the visiting Fordham Rams. 

Playing in their first Atlantic 10 game of the season, the Rams, who had lost four straight heading in, got 31 points from Brenton Butler, 16 points and 14 rebounds from Chris Gaston, and had the game tied at 76-76 with 36 seconds left. 

However, the night would end like so many others have ended for Fordham (2-11) of late. Ricky Harris’ jumper with three seconds left gave the Minutemen (7-7) a 78-76 win over the Rams at the Mullins Center.

“Basically, I just wanted to get the ball,’’ Harris told the Boston Globe. “I found a way to get open and hit a tough shot.’’

Butler’s 31 was a career high. He also had six assists and four rebounds. Butler has scored over 20 points in three straight games. It was his 3-pointer that tied the game with under a minute to play. As for Gaston, it was his ninth double-double of the season.

“Brenton is good and I’ve known him since my freshman year,” Harris told the Boston Herald. “He’s a good player, he plays hard every night. He’s a good shooter and a good leader for that young team.”   

Charles Costello

Make it five losses in a row for Fordham, as the Rams, playing in their final non-conference game before Atlantic 10 play begins this week, fell at Hampton Sunday evening, 78-54. Fordham is now 2-10 on the year, the same non-conference record from a year ago.

The Rams shot just 30.8 percent from the floor on 20-of-65 shooting from the field, while the Pirates shot 51 percent from the floor on 25-of-49 shooting. Fifteen turnovers by Fordham led to 20 points for Hampton. And, the Rams were outrebounded, 42-31. Because of foul trouble, Chris Gaston, who entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in scoring and ranking second in rebounding, played just 15 minutes and was held to six points and five rebounds. Brenton Butler led the Rams with 21 points.

Charles Costello

When you think college basketball, Kennesaw State is probably not the first school that comes to mind.

After Fordham’s 79-66 loss at the KSU Convocation Center in Georgia Tuesday night, the Rams know all about the 5-7 Owls.

Despite 51 combined points from Chris Gaston and Brenton Butler, Fordham lost its fourth straight game to fall to 2-9 on the year. Gaston had 26 points and 12 rebounds, notching his eight double-double of the year. Butler finished with 25 points, tying his season-high.

However, the good news stopped there for Fordham. Kennesaw State outrebounded the Rams, 45-36, including 18 offensive boards which the Owls converted into 19 second-chance points.

No other Ram scored more than seven points.

Freshman guard Rayner Moquete played his first game for Fordham after joining the team three days ago. Moquete played four minutes and missed his only shot from the field.

Charles Costello

Playing its first of five straight road games, Fordham traveled to James Madison Tuesday night, and for the game’s first 20 minutes, it looked like the Rams would enjoy an early Christmas treat.

After leading 41-32 at the half, Fordham connected on just 12-of-39 shots (30.8 percent) in the second half after shooting 51.4 percent (18-for-35) from the floor in the first half, and eventually fell to the Dukes, 85-73. The loss drops Fordham to 2-8 on the year.

“They came out strong in the second [half] and took the lead,” Fordham head coach Jared Grasso said, as reported by fordhamsports.com. “We came back to regain the lead, but in the end we missed too many layups and couldn’t keep them off the offensive boards.”

Chris Gaston scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Rams. Brenton Butler added 16 points and Fahro Alihodzik had 10 rebounds.

ZagsBlog.com is reporting that former Fordham point guard Jio Fontan has decided to join the USC Trojans.

According to the report, Fontan visited Miami and USC before making his decision. He was supposed to visit Tennessee and Alabama this past week, but after last weekend’s visit to L.A., Fontan was sold on becoming a Trojan.

“I’m really happy,” Fontan told ZagsBlog.com. ”I think I made a great decision. I love California. I love the campus. Coach [Kevin O'Neill] is mad cool. I’m in the Pac 10.”

Fontan led Fordham in scoring and assists as a freshman, but attempted to get out of his scholarship last off-season before eventually deciding to return to Rose Hill after his requests were repeatedly denied by the school’s administration. He played in five games this season, averaging 15 points and dishing out 21 assists before he once again expressed his desire to leave. Fontan completed the fall semester at Fordham, but will be on campus at USC for the start of the spring semester in January. 

Fontan must sit out a year and can join the Trojans in December 2010.

In a press release out of Fordham, the university made it official today announcing that freshman Rayner Moquete, a 6-1, 181-pound point guard who hails from the Dominican Republic, and who graduated from Our Savior New American School in Centereach, N.Y. last spring, will join the Rams following the Christmas break.

“Rayner is a tough and skilled point guard whose international experience will be a great addition to our program,” head coach Jared Grasso said in the release. “We’re very excited to have a quality student-athlete like Rayner join us at Fordham.”

As a senior in 2008-09, Moquete, a two-year captain, averaged 15 points, 6.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 2 steals per game, shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range and 74 percent from the free throw line. As a junior, Moquete averaged 11 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals per game, shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc.

More from the release:

A member of the New York Elite AAU program, Moquete also played with the Upstate Basketball program in the Reebok Summer Championships in Las Vegas along with Big East players Brandon Triche (Syracuse) and Dane Miller (Rutgers). He also had interest from Holy Cross, Duquesne, Georgia, and Niagara, and Davidson.

Moquete, who hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, also has international experience, serving as the starting point guard and captain of the Dominican Republic Junior National team. He played in tournaments in Spain, Columbia, Puerto Rico and Argentina with the national team while also attending the Adidas Nations camp in San Paulo, Brazil.

Click here to read the entire release.

Ray Floriani, a columnist for College Chalktalk, has an interesting post following Fordham’s loss yesterday to Villanova at the IZOD Center. Among his “Courtside Observations,” Floriani says that Fordham should remove the interim tag from Jared Grasso’s title and officially hire him as its head basketball coach:

“He’s committed to his job and coaches with passion and energy. Has a reputation as a recruiter but can draw up the X’s and O’s just as well. Hopefully, when it is all played out, Grasso will have an offer from the Fordham administration.” (Ray Floriani, College Chalktalk 12/19)

Floriani is also impressed with Fordham’s youth movement - notably the play of Chris Gaston, Alberto Estwick, and Lance Brown - and talks about the effort that the Rams showed in yesterday’s loss.

Read the entire article here.