Butler survives late comeback, defeats Fordham

Butler's Rotnei Clarke (15) leads the Bulldogs into the frontcourt on offense in the second half.


I never thought I would say this: "Kellen Dunham free throw shooting is the reason the Bulldogs lost."  I almost had to say that today, but luckily I did not.  Rotnei Clarke lead all scorers with 22 points, albeit somewhat inefficient, and Roosevelt Jones was tough in the paint and on the glass with 13 points and 8 rebounds, as Butler defeated Fordham 68-63.  Andrew Smith returned from injury, but wasn't very sharp on the offensive end missing makeable layups, jump hooks, and tip-ins.  Yet he made all of his free throws to be able to reach his scoring average and score 12 points.  Kam Woods really impressed me on in a game where none of Butler's other bigs did.  With Khyle Marshall out for most of this game with injury and foul trouble, Woods used his long arms to grab rebounds, as he had 10 rebounds to go with 7 points.  Something I noticed about Erik Fromm is that he has completely lost confidence in his three point shot, passing up many open looks after the ball was reversed to him at the top of the key.  Maybe he should spend less time talking to Chase Stigall, who incidentally missed his only 3 point attempt in three minutes of action.

For Fordham, I was quite impressed with forward Chris Gaston who had been injured for about a month, and scored 21 points in his first game back.  None of Butler's four big men could consistently stop Gaston who scored in a variety of ways, including jump shots and strong post moves.  I was also impressed with burly forward Travion Leonard's ability to hit mid range jump shots, where he constantly burned the Bulldogs.  Branden Frazier continued his lengthy shoot slump, as Butler held him 1 of 9 shooting.

I was quite impressed with the Fordham fan base, quite loud and enthusastic, although there were a decent amount of Butler fans also at the game.  This was the first time in a while that I had attended a Butler game in person, and while the Bulldogs didn't play to their full potential, they were able to win a close and entertaining game.