Fordham

For a team with an 0-6 record, Fordham gave Towson all it could handle yesterday, out-passing and out-gaining the Tigers.But the visiting Rams didn't have a player who is rapidly becoming an ultimate weapon in this series -- Towson kicker Ed Kulic.For the second straight season, the sophomore made good on a kick that meant the difference in the Patriot League game. This time, it was a 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining, lifting the Tigers to a 25-23 triumph before 4,031 homecoming celebrators at Minnegan Stadium.

CHICAGO -- The destitute Orioles ran out of change last night. As they reverted to the look that often made them punch lines in the first half, the miracle meter expired in an embarrassing 6-4 loss to the woeful Chicago White Sox. Fittingly, the performance occurred in Comiskey Park, Jerry Reinsdorf's mausoleum, before an announced crowd of 15,776.Don't be deceived by the two-run difference. The Orioles managed four hits through eight innings off three rookie pitchers before center fielder Rich Becker's three-run homer in the ninth made it misleadingly close.

NEW YORK -- Towson University coach Gordy Combs and Fordham coach Nick Quartaro knew the Patriot League game between their teams would come down to the unexpected. Especially since they were playing in a downpour yesterday at Jack Coffey Field.Unfortunately for Combs, it was his team that ended up on the wrong end of the unforeseen, and the Tigers lost another game.First, a blocked punt resulted in a Fordham touchdown and then a failed fake field-goal attempt late in the game took away a potential score for Towson.

SIGNITHIA FORDHAM felt betrayed when she started observing "Capital High School" in inner-city Washington."How could you not value what our foreparents sacrificed so much for?" she wanted to cry out to the students at Capital, a virtually all-black school where Fordham, who is black, would observe student life from 1981 to 1984.What the Georgia-raised cultural anthropologist found -- and what drove her to shed "buckets of tears" in the early months of her study -- was a culture that placed greater value on group solidarity than on academic success.

NEW YORK -- A starting defensive back for Fordham University died yesterday after collapsing during pre-game warm-ups on the school's athletic field in the Bronx. Bill Tierney, 20, a junior from Lyndhurst, N.J., apparently died of a heart attack, a Fordham spokesman said.Tierney and his teammates had been preparing for a Homecoming game against Lafayette when the player collapsed Jack Coffey Field."He was a great, great kid," said Fordham athletic director Frank McLaughlin. "This is unbelievable.

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Joe Sanchez, who turned around the Navy women's basketball program in his first year as head coach, began looking ahead to next season after the Midshipmen were eliminated by Fordham, 70-55, in the Patriot League semifinals yesterday."

NEW YORK -- Mike Reese had a team-high 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead Loyola (13-11) over host Fordham, 75-67, in a nonconference game last night.Three others scored in double figures for the Greyhounds. Freshman Darius Johnson had a career-high 18 points, B. J. Pendelton scored 14 points and Tracy Bergan scored 11 points and had seven assists.Fordham (12-13) was led by Sherwin Content, who had game highs with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

NEW YORK -- Derek Milis and Sherwin Content scored 19 points each to lead Fordham past Navy, 84-72, in front of 2,010 at Rose Hill Gymnasium yesterday.Brad Cougher came off the bench to lead the Mids with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting. He also pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Scott Holden added 12 points for the Mids, whose two game winning streak ended.Dave Mascia added 17 points for the Rams, who led 59-55 with 8:35 remaining before Nick Gianopoulos led the key surge to a 69-57 advantage with five of his 11 points.

Second-seeded Holy Cross wasted a 14-point, second-half lead, but recovered in the final minute to eliminate No. 6 Navy, 83-79, yesterday in the Patriot League women's basketball semifinals at Alumni Hall.Holy Cross (15-13) advanced to meet top-seeded Fordham (20-8) Saturday in the championship game. Fordham ousted No. 4 Army yesterday, 68-48.The Midshipmen (10-18) trailed, 47-33, after the first 30 seconds of the second half, but rallied to tie at 60 on a three-pointer by Kate Wells. With 1:59 to play, Navy took a 76-73 lead on two free throws by Kim Jackson.

For the first time since David Robinson towered above the Colonial Athletic Association in 1987, Navy's basketball team is positioned to win a regular-season conference title.All the Midshipmen have to do is their favorite thing: Beat Army.They ensured that situation yesterday by blowing away Fordham in the second half at Alumni Hall en route to a 73-42 victory that prevented the Rams from clinching the Patriot League crown.If Navy (13-12, 8-5) wins at Army tomorrow night in the makeup of a game snowed out Jan. 8, it would secure the top seed for the conference tournament, which begins Friday at Annapolis.

GREENBELT - Federal prosecutors accused eight people yesterday of bilking homeowners and banks of more than $35 million in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme involving phony loans and home purchases. The defendants, several of whom are related, preyed on homeowners who were in trouble with their mortgages and were facing foreclosure, according to a 47-page grand jury indictment filed in U.S. District Court. Under the scheme, the defendants promised to help them if they would temporarily turn over ownership of their homes, prosecutors said.

COLLEGE PARK -- At the end of his post-game news conference last night, Maryland coach Gary Williams reversed the roles and asked the final question: "Who got upset tonight?" It was one he could ask with confidence as he looked over a sheet with other scores from around the country, considering just moments before, his No. 23-ranked Terps averted being the answer. Maryland@Boston College Sunday, 6:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet, 1300 AM, 105.7 FM

COLLEGE PARK -- Basketball practice for the Maryland Terrapins on Monday - one day after Notre Dame ended their eight-game winning streak - was, according to coach Gary Williams, "interesting." In other words, he got a little loud. Was it his most vocal practice ever? "Oh, no," he said, a smile cracking his usually stoic face. "There's been others. ... When I feel we could've won the game just doing a few things differently, then the next practice is probably going to be pretty tough."

WASHINGTON -- The former top aide to disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, provided testimony yesterday standing by his claim that he alerted the House speaker's office about inappropriate conduct by his boss long before Foley's sexual overtures to male congressional pages became public two weeks ago, the aide's lawyer said. The aide, Kirk Fordham, testified for more than four hours before House members investigating the possible failure of House GOP leaders to heed early signs of Foley's behavior.

WASHINGTON -- A defiant House Speaker Dennis Hastert fought yesterday to hold on to his leadership post while fractures appeared among his lieutenants and a former senior aide to Rep. Mark Foley said he had repeatedly warned Hastert's top aide about Foley's inappropriate behavior toward underage pages more than two years ago. In an interview, Hastert said he had no thoughts of resigning, and he blamed ABC News and Democratic operatives for the mushrooming scandal...

On April 15, 2005, HENRY EUGENE FORDHAM. On Tuesday, friends may call at VAUGHN C. GREENE Funeral Services (EAST), 4905 York Road, where the family will receive friends from 4:00 to 8:00 P.M. On Wednesday, Mr. Fordham will lie instate at Vaughn C. Greene Funeral Chapel, 4905 York Road, where the family will receive friends from 11:00 to 11:30 A.M., with services to follow. Inquiries to 410-433-7500.

It wasn't exactly the Patriot League farewell tour that Towson and coach Gordy Combs were hoping for. The Tigers, who will move to the Atlantic 10 Conference next year, had entered the season expecting to compete for the Patriot League title, but after a couple early losses, they were pretty much eliminated from the race. The Tigers had one last chance at redemption yesterday, but they couldn't capitalize on an early lead and dropped their final Patriot League game to defending conference champion Fordham, 35-22, before 2,258 at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Every time Towson began to make a comeback, Fordham responded with a big play, and the Rams held on for a 28-23 victory yesterday before 3,568 at Minnegan Stadium."

For a team with an 0-6 record, Fordham gave Towson all it could handle yesterday, out-passing and out-gaining the Tigers.But the visiting Rams didn't have a player who is rapidly becoming an ultimate weapon in this series -- Towson kicker Ed Kulic.For the second straight season, the sophomore made good on a kick that meant the difference in the Patriot League game. This time, it was a 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining, lifting the Tigers to a 25-23 triumph before 4,031 homecoming celebrators at Minnegan Stadium.

CHICAGO -- The destitute Orioles ran out of change last night. As they reverted to the look that often made them punch lines in the first half, the miracle meter expired in an embarrassing 6-4 loss to the woeful Chicago White Sox. Fittingly, the performance occurred in Comiskey Park, Jerry Reinsdorf's mausoleum, before an announced crowd of 15,776.Don't be deceived by the two-run difference. The Orioles managed four hits through eight innings off three rookie pitchers before center fielder Rich Becker's three-run homer in the ninth made it misleadingly close.