Fordham Basketball: Biggest Wins of Tom Pecora Era

Tom Pecora took over the Fordham basketball program in March 2010. Pecora's record in four seasons at Rose Hill is 34-85.

But this is a coach who won 155 games in nine seasons at Hofstra, three times taking the Pride to the National Invitation Tournament. He knows how to win; it just hasn't happened yet in the Bronx, though that is expected to change this year.

While they've been few and far between, there have been some memorable wins since Pecora arrived. In choosing the four biggest, I took into consideration where the game was played (the excitement of a home win or playing at a major arena in New York City must be factored in), who the opponent was (local rivals and Atlantic 10 opponents get an extra nod) and the magnitude of the game (the bigger the game, the bigger the victory).

Here are the four biggest wins in Pecora's time at Fordham.

On December 9, 2000, Bob Hill's second year at Fordham, the Rams won a wild game over St. John's, 68-67, at Madison Square Garden. For one day at least, Fordham was the story in New York sports.

Because they are located close by, are in the Big East and happen to be the city's most popular college team, the Red Storm are the Rams' biggest rival.

So in Pecora's first year, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Rose Hill Gym, Fordham fell behind by 21 points in the second half, but went on a 15-3 run midway through, helping to propel the Rams to their third straight win.

Chris Gaston had 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Brenton Butler scored a team-high 22 points.

Fordham improved to 5-4 with the win, but won only more two games the rest of the way, finishing the season 7-21.

When the Crimson came to Rose Hill, they were ranked in the Top 25. The Rams were coming off home wins against Texas State and Georgia Tech and entered the game with a 6-6 record.

It was the first time Fordham had beaten a nationally-ranked team since the St. John's win a decade earlier. Freshman Bryan Smith scored a team-high 22 points, while Gaston added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

It was a huge win all around. Fordham had lost its previous 20 contests against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. It came on the heels of the Rams' win over an ACC opponent. And with the win, Fordham was 7-6 (6-1 at home) heading into A-10 play.

Sandwiched in between two losses—one at the Garden against St. John's and the other on the road at UConn—the Rams, who had lost five in a row, improved to 2-8 by beating the Tigers at the Barclays Center.

Fordham, which trailed at the half and was down by 11 at one point in the second half, rallied back thanks to Branden Frazier's game-high 19 points.

A win at the Barclays Center is always big, especially for a team like the Rams, one trying to make its mark in a very crowded New York sports landscape.

Fordham snapped an eight-game losing streak with its win over George Mason in the play-in game of the A-10 tournament at the Barclays Center. It was the Rams' first tournament win since 2007.

Fordham would lose a day later to Dayton, but the win over George Mason was huge on a number of levels: breaking the losing streak, tournament win, hope for the future and proof that this team didn't quit.

Fordham shot just 35.4 percent from the floor, but Ryan Canty's 19 rebounds helped save them.

The next day, the Rams cut a 19-point second-half deficit down to five before eventually falling to the Flyers.

"One of the most impressive things about the team last year was that they were still battling at the end of the year," Pecora told Bleacher Report. "We lost some really tough games. A lot of kids would have just said 'let's get this over with, go out today and lose and don't worry about it.' They went in with the mindset that 'we're going to win this tournament.'

"They continued to compete. Their resilience was impressive to me. They never quit."

Statistics, game information and history courtesy of the 2013-14 Fordham Basketball media guide and the following ESPN.com links: 

Fordham vs. St. John's

Fordham vs. Harvard

Fordham vs. Princeton

Fordham vs. George Mason

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