Fordham University School of Business - Aries Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 244 text:

John Carigha Don Haig Charles McCormack Billy Lyons At the outset of the basketball season Fordham was picked number eight in the country, and tops in the East, Optimism ahounded. But the pessimists were also around. These three sophs can't take the place of Conlin and Lyons, they moaned, and Cunningham wonit be able to play at a fast pace with that tire around his middle, Thus sang the prophets of gloom. Who was right? The answer was quickly provided as the Hawks of St. Ioseph's swept in and completely routed the Rams, 89-71. The inexperienced Rams were outdone in every department, especially rebounding. Travelling to Buffalo, Fordham threw a scare into Niagara before bowing, 72-70. The Rams fought back from a sixteen point half-time deficit, and would have won except for poor foul shooting. Ernie Haynes threw in twenty-one points but this was overshadowed by a great forty point performance by Tom Hemans of the Eagles. Before returning home the Rose Hillers dropped an 85-69 decision to Syracuse. The Rams returned to their home bailiwick and with four men hitting for double figures they romped a weak Rhode Island club 89-71 for their first victory. However, in their next game they reverted to form and dropped a dull 66-55 game to St. Bonaventure. In a final tune-up for the Holiday Festival the Maroon rolled over a weak Rutgers Hve, 94-54. Now Fordham returned to the Garden for the Hrst time in twelve years and met Duquesne, in the Holiday Festival. Bach played his iron man five of Bugniazet, Reese, Haynes, Mccadney and Cunningham through the entire forty-five minutes and in the most memorable game of the season they nearly pulled off a tremendous upset. The Maroon rallied from a 53-45 deficit and took a 61-54 lead with four minutes left. With nine seconds left they led 66-64, but Si Green threw in a jump shot from an impossible angle, thus sending the game into overtime. The Dukes controlled the ball during this period and eked out a 73-70 victory. If the Rams had taken this game it would have given them a tremendous lift but Si Green and his thirty- nine points were just too much. Disheartened by their so near and yet so far effort against the Dukes, the Rams became lethargic and were trounced by St. john's and Syracuse in consolation games. With,their record now standing at 2 and 7, the Bachmen returned home and lost number four in a row, this one to Canisius. It began to look as if the Rams wouldn't win another game all year as they were beaten by Holy Cross, 59-53, in a very poor ball game. The losing streak was broken as Captain 'Reese and Cunningham, with eighteen and twenty respectively, led the way to a 66-64 squeaker over Princeton. The Rams then went into a trance as they were upset by a weak Yale squad. However, they rebounded well from this defeat and snowed Army under, 64-46. Good defensive work by Kuehn and Bugniazet paved the way to victory. l .

Page 243 text:

1 E i 2 r 'S 4

Page 245 text:

Mike Cashman Steve Sarsfield Ron Kuehn Fred Wagner Now it appeared that the Rams might be beginning to jell and this suspicion was confirmed as they upset Connecticut. Jim Cunningham, with twenty-seven, led the way to the easy 82-72 victory. Progress was held up temporarily by a 61-57 loss to Villanova at the Palestra, but the Rams got back on the winning track as they clobbered a veteran LaSalle quintet by sixteen points, with Haynes and McCadney leading the attack with eighteen points apiece. This young club was starting to form into a tight, cohesive unit, and they showed it by pulling out a 69-68 squeaker over a tough Georgetown five. Once again Cunningham, with twenty-Eve, and Reese, with seventeen, were the big men. The next game, even though a victory, was disappointing. Fordham looked terrible beating a weak C.C.N.Y. five. The following game against N.Y.U. was just as bad. The Rose Hillers threw the ball away, took bad shots and wound up on the long end of a 62-56 count. The game was a costly one because Bob Reese injured his ankle and was unavailable two nights later against Duquesne. This game was not a replica of the previous one as Hugo ran his total against Fordham to seventy in leading the Dukes to an 87-65 romp. The Rams could do no wrong Hve nights later as they ran off with an 8:2-59 win over the big, beefy Redmen of St. Iohn's. Ron Kuehn came up with his best game since coming to Rose Hill, chipping in with nineteen points to augment jumbo Iimls thirty as the Rams had a torrid fifty-five point second half. The hot streak continued as Big Bill lXIcCadney led the way with tvventy-three as the Maroon toyed with the Lions of Columbia, 81-68. The keyed-up Rams travelled to South Orange and knocked oil the high flying Pirates of Seton Hall, 78-76. This was undoubtedly the best game of the season for the Fordham five. Much of the credit goes to Ed Bugniazet, who held Pirate ace Dick Gaines far below his usual twenty plus average, and to Cunningham, who was constantly driving on Gaines, finally fouling him out with twelve minutes gone in the second half. Bob Reese hit twenty-five, two less than Cunningham, in addition to playing a strong board game with Bill McCadney. But the real hero was Ron Kuehn who threw in a fantastic jump shot as the buzzer was sounding to wrap up the win. In the Finale the Rams were beaten by a combination of their own sloppy ball handling and some great jump shooting by Manhattanis Gerry Paulson. With Paulson pouring twenty- three points, the Iaspers won a tough 78-71 game. jumbo Jim scored twenty-seven, thus bringing his season total to 478, breaking Ed Conlin's soph mark by one. Thus the cagers wound up the season with an ll-14 record, not bad considering the slate stood at 2-9 half way through the season. But the prospects for the future are not too bright. With Bobby Reese gone it appears that the Rams will be a one man team next year.