Fordham Head Coach Tom Pecora: 'We Need Our Veterans to Lead the Way'

By Fordham head coach Tom Pecora's estimation after the loss to Maryland Eastern Shore, the Rams had three freshmen on the floor for about 90 percent of the game. 

Pecora wasn't using age as an excuse, but anyone who saw what took place inside the Rose Hill Gym Saturday afternoon—missed free throws, bad shot selection, costly turnovers, poor defense—could tell that the Rams' youth and inexperience (they have seven freshmen on the roster) played a big part in the 72-66 loss, their fourth in a row.

That's what made Monday night's 69-67 win over Siena so significant. For the first time since opening night against the New York Institute of Technology, Fordham played the bulk of the game with a lead. After trailing early, the Rams went on a 16-0 run in the first half that gave them a 26-18 advantage, one they never relinquished.

In the second half, Fordham increased its lead to as many as 13. But with 6:27 to go, the lead had been cut to 58-55. Moments later, with 3:39 left in the game, it was down to 63-61. And with 20.4 seconds left, Fordham's lead was still at two, 67-65.

The Rams were in uncharted waters: a close game late, playing with the lead and challenged right to the last shot.

Down the stretch, as Pecora noted, there were three freshmen (Antwoine Anderson, Eric Paschall and Christian Sengfelder) and two juniors (Ryan Rhoomes and Mandell Thomas) on the floor. In the end, a game-saving block by Paschall as time expired sealed the win.

Paschall finished with 19 points, while Anderson and Thomas added 18 apiece. Rhoomes had 17 rebounds.

After the game, Pecora called his freshmen "fearless" and said he expects his veterans to be that way as well. On Monday night, they were.

"We need our veterans to lead the way for these freshmen," Pecora said. "We have three freshmen on the floor just about all the time. We need Ryan and we need Mandell [Thomas] and Bryan Smith. They're our only three upperclassmen so they have to lead the way a little bit. ... That's where we are right now. We're young."

On Saturday against UMES, Fordham turned the ball over 20 times. Against Siena, they turned it over 13 times. 

"I thought we did a great job against their pressure," Pecora said. "Lesson learned after Maryland Eastern Shore. To be pressed as much as we were [against Siena] and to have 13 turnovers—a lot weren't in the backcourt—I think that was big for us." 

It wasn't the only area of improvement, something Pecora pointed out in his postgame comments to the media following the Siena win, calling the team's performance "a sign of maturity."

"What I put on the board [after the game] was 41 percent from the field, only 13 turnovers and plus-four on the backboards. That's why we won the basketball game."

For one night, at least, the reality of Fordham's situation played out in its favor. The Rams aren't going to become older overnight, but they can show growth.

"We were looking at a year where we thought we'd be starting Ryan Rhoomes at the 4 and Ryan Canty at the 5, and Jon [Severe] would be with us at the 2," Pecora said. "That's not the way it is right now, but so what? You go out, you coach them up, [and] they let you do that. They practiced real hard all week.

"I'm very proud of them. That's a good win."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello