The Fordham University men’s basketball team extended its losing streak to nine games after a 69-60 loss to the St. Bonaventure Bonnies before a sold out crowd at the Rose Hill Gymnasium on Jan. 29.

With the loss, Fordham’s season record falls to 6-13 and 0-7 in the Atlantic 10 (A-10) while St. Bonaventure rises to 12-10 with a 3-4 A-10 record. The loss extends Fordham’s A-10 losing streak to 32 games since the 2009 season.

“The good thing about today’s game was that we saw some life from our younger guys,” said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. “Hopefully that’s something we can build off of. But it was a great atmosphere today with the building packed, and the Fordham student section was awesome. It’s a huge home court advantage when we have a crowd like that.”

However, despite the overwhelming support at the game, the team’s performance at the free throw line cost them the contest. The Rams only managed nine free throw attempts the entire game, netting five of them, while St. Bonaventure attempted an astounding 41 free throws, making 26 of them. This 26-to-five spread was a key factor in the loss.

The Rams were also called for 28 fouls during the game and three Fordham players fouled out including star guard Brenton Butler, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’11, Lamount Samuell, FCRH ’14, and Chris Gaston, FCRH ’13, the 2010 A-10 Rookie of the Year. However, before fouling out, Butler finished with a team high of 15 points, and Gaston notched his second straight double-double. The double-double was Gaston’s A-10 leading 12th of the year.

“[St. Bonaventure] were physical at the beginning and we weren’t,” Pecora said. “Chris is a good player, but he’s still a sophomore and I think he got rattled a bit.”

The Rams struggled in the first half, shooting with 24.1 percent accuracy and they were only 3 for 11 (27.3 percent) shooting three pointers. St. Bonaventure shot with 48 percent accuracy and they were 3 for 4 (75 percent) shooting threes which allowed them to pull away 36-20 at the half.

After halftime, the Rams ignited the home crowd by going on an impressive 18-3 run, allowing Fordham to come within one point 38-39 with 11:54 left to play.

Twenty seconds later, St. Bonaventure’s Ogo Adegboye answered back sinking a layup while being fouled on the play, which eventually resulted in three points for the Bonnies.

Gaston responded with a jumper and then blocked a shot from Bonnie forward  Da’Quan Cook that Gaston converted into a layup to tie the game at 42-42.

Following the tie, the Bonnies had three successful free throw attempts in less than a minute to give them a 45-42 lead, but a Marvin Dominique, FCRH ’14, steal and layup made it a one-point game with 9:21 remaining and a score of 45-44.

St. Bonaventure continued the scoring  with a three-pointer to put the Bonnies up 48-44, but Lamount Samuell, FCRH ’14, cut the deficit in half with a basket of his own with 8:39 left. Then, a Michael Davenport shot started a 6-0 run for St. Bonaventure.

Not to be outdone, the resilient Rams went on a 5-1 run of their own ending with a Butler three-pointer to make the game 55-51 with 4:42 left. However, that would be the closest the Rams would be to a possible victory.

St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson, the game’s leading scorer with 25 points, was successful in a free throw attempt to make it 56-51; then his teammate Davenport added a three-pointer to make it 59-51 with 1:44 remaining.

The last 90 seconds of play were seemingly sluggish due to nine fouls between the two teams, including seven by Fordham that put the game out of reach as the Rams fell 69-60.

“You can’t win if they shoot 41 free throws and we shoot nine,” Pecora said.

In response to his team’s ninth straight loss, Pecora added, “I went in and told the kids I was proud of them. Think about it, these kids could be down right now, but they continue to compete. It’s a hard division, that’s the A-10, we have great teams.”

Fordham’s next home game will be Feb. 5, at 1 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gymnasium.