The Billikens bucked heads with the Fordham Rams Saturday afternoon at Chaifetz Arena. After a long, drawn-out battle, the Bills won 66-44. The Bills (22-5, 10-3 Atlantic 10) have won six straight games and nine out of their last 10.
Cody Ellis continues to dominate for the Billikens, scoring 20 points, making five of eight three-point attempts. He was the beneficiary of a lot zone defense and missed assignments by the Rams as most of his three-point attempts were uncontested. This was Ellis’ second straight game scoring in the double digits.
Kwamain Mitchell scored 16 points and opened up the second half with eight straight points and collected 7 rebounds. Mike McCall Jr. contributed 11 points and had six assists and three steals.
“We played our heart out and we play pretty good defensive and that’s what saves us,” Head Coach Rick Majerus said.
The Bills jumped out with the early 5-0, but the Rams quickly responded with their own 8-0 run to gain the lead, 8-5. The Bills became slow after the initial 5-0 lead.
The Bills regained the lead 11-10 just before an official timeout. The Bills continued to maintain a slim advantage until Coach Majerus called a timeout with 1:04 remaining in the first half. After the timeout, Cody Ellis went on his own personal 6-0 run to close out the first half on two three-pointers, giving the Bills a double digit lead going into halftime, 26-16.
“At the end of the half, we get Ellis on one side and then we get him on the other side. We did a play with him to the right and then to the left and we get two shot opportunities,” Majerus said.
The Bills shut down Fordham standout Chris Gaston in the first half. Gaston, who is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game and has 15 double-doubles this season, scored 0 points in the first half and only collected four rebounds. Gaston had some opportunities but could not convert in the first half.
In the second half, Mitchell came out on fire scoring the Bills’ first eight points in the half, making two back-to-back three-point attempts to extend the Bills’ lead, 34-20.
Gaston scored his points in the 18:06 mark in the second half, but the Bills continued to dominate the game.
The Bills extended the lead 20 points at the 11:44 mark in the half. The Bills largest lead was 26 at the 4:33 mark in the half.
The play that sent the Mardi Gras crowd in frenzy was at the 7:01 mark in the half performed by McCall to Mitchell. Mitchell pulled the defensive rebound and started the break with McCall who passed the ball back and forth with Mitchell, until near the free-throw line, McCall lobbed the ball up for Mitchell who slammed the ball into the hoop.
“We always talk about it: anytime we get the chance on the fast break, (McCall) said he was going to throw it. When I passed it to him, I kind of made eye contact to him and he just threw it up and it was right there,” Mitchell said.
The Bills now have three games left in A-10 regular season conference play with Rhode Island, Xavier, and Duquesne.
“With this league any team can sneak up and get you and that is something that we reiterated throughout the week,” Brian Conklin said.
The Bills next game will be at Rhode Island on Saturday Feb. 25. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. central time and will be televised on CBS Sports Regional.
The Bills final home game will be against Xavier at Chaifetz Arena on Tuesday Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. central standard time. This will be the final home game for seniors Brian Conklin and Kyle Cassity. The game is a Billiken Bizzard and fans are expected to wear white to the game.
