Dec. 8, 2007

Box Score

BRONX, NY - Sophomore guard Brenton Butler scored 21 points, leading four double-figure scorers for Fordham in its 88-44 men's basketball win over visiting NJIT Saturday afternoon.

Fordham, which easily ranks among the top five opponents on NJIT's schedule, got 16 points from senior Marcus Stout, 14 from freshman Mike Moore and 13 from senior Bryant Dunston, who also produced game-high totals in rebounds (9), assists (6) and blocked shots (4).

The statistical leaders for the Highlanders were Nesho Milosevic with 12 points and seven rebounds and freshman Justin Garris with 10 points, three assists and three steals.

Fordham, an 18-win team a year ago, was picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches poll for the Atlantic 10, which is the fifth-rated conference in the country in the latest ratings percentage index (RPI). Ahead of the A10 are: the ACC, Pac-10, Big 12 and Big East. Immediately behind the A10 in the RPI are: the Big Ten, Missouri Valley and SEC.

Fordham coach Dereck Whittenberg, who shook up his starting lineup before its previous game against Hofstra, benching three regular-starting seniors, did so again vs. NJIT.

But the deep Rams were not bothered by the change, defeating Hofstra and starting strong against NJIT.

Less than five minutes in, Whittenberg inserted the seniors, including Dunston and Stout. Dunston is in Fordham's career top 10 in points (1,508), rebounds (770) and blocked shots (237) and Stout is in the career scoring top 10 (1,410 points), so things got more difficult for Fordham's last two foes, including NJIT, when the Rams went to the bench.

Fordham opened fast at 13-2, capped by Stout's three-pointer with 15:14 left in the first half. But the Highlanders hung in and had an 8-4 run that closed the deficit to 22-14 with 10:36 left in the half on a layup by Kyle Edwards.

Fouled in the act of shooting, Edwards missed the free throw, beginning a drought of nearly five minutes that finally ended when Milosevic hit a pair of free throws at the 5:54 mark.

Fordham had a 38-19 lead by then and would outscore the Highlanders, 19-7 from the Edwards bucket on for a 41-21 halftime lead.

Top scorers at the intermission were Fordham's Butler, who had 13 points, including three all-net three-pointers and NJIT's Milosevic, with 10 points.

The second half resembled the latter portion of the first half.

NJIT's offensive leaders in the second half were the freshman starting backcourt of Garris and Jheryl Wilson, who each collected six points after the halftime break.

Fordham finished the game shooting 11-for-25 from three-point range with five different men connecting and 23-for-30 (77 percent) at the foul line.

NJIT has another quick schedule turnaround, returning to action Monday night at 7 pm on Long Island against Stony Brook.