Fordham Beats Central Missouri in CBE First Round
Stout, Dunston lead Rams in victory

box score

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- First it was Michigan State and then Ohio State. Two NCAA Division I programs who dropped exhibition games to Division II teams. Fordham didn't want to become the third.

And seniors Bryant Dunston and Marcus Stout, with a helping hand from the newest Ram, freshman Mike Moore, made sure it didn't, as Dunston recorded his first double-double of the year while Stout netted a game-high 22 points to lead Fordham to a 76-66 win over the University of Central Missouri in the first round of the Columbia Regional of the CBE Classic at the University of Missouri's Mizzou Center.

With the win, the Rams go to 2-0 on the year and will play the University of Missouri for the Columbia Regional championship tomorrow night at 8:00 PM (EST).

"I told my team after the game that any team that wins 31 games like they did last year is a very good team," said head coach Dereck Whittenburg. "Their school is a Division II school but their team isn't. They gave us a good game but we showed some resilience and made the plays when we had to."

Dunston finished with 20 points and ten rebounds to notch his first double-double of the season and the 26th of his career. Moore added 15 points for the Rams, hitting three of his four three-point attempts.

The game started out close, with neither team leading by more than two over the first seven minutes before Moore ignited a 15-6 Fordham run with a three-pointer with 12:47 left as the Rams built a 30-19 lead following a Kevin Anderson lay-up with 7:09 remaining.

The lead would remain in double figures until the break as the Rams held a 44-31 advantage at the half, thanks to 14 first half points from Stout and 13 from Moore.

Fordham built the lead to 17, 52-35, on a Stout lay-up three minutes into the second half before the Mules cut it back to 14, 52-38, with four straight points. But a Sebastian Greene three-pointer and a Dunston lay-up bumped Fordham's lead up to its largest of the night at 19, 57-38, with 14:24 remaining.

Central Missouri chipped away at the Fordham lead, scoring six unanswered points over the next three minutes to make it a 13-point contest, 57-44, after a Fred Dudley jumper with 11:40 left.

The Rams would build the lead back to 18 twice over the next five minutes, the final time at 67-49 following a pair of Moore free throws with 6:27 remaining.

Seven straight Mule points cut the Fordham lead back to 11, 67-56, with 5:18 left before Stout answered the run with a lay-up 31 seconds later. A Carvelle Taylor three-pointer pulled Central Missouri to within ten, 69-59, with just over four minutes left but that was as close as the Mules would get.

Brenton Butler finished with a career-high ten rebounds for the Rams, who outrebounded the Mules, 42-33, on the night, while Dunston also finished with three blocks.