Box Score
Box Score

CANTON, N.Y. - Liberty League Player of the Year Sam Simmons scored a game-high 20 points with nine rebounds to lead the Rensselaer men's basketball team to a 72-65 win over St. Lawrence in the league tournament championship game and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.  Simmons was named the Most Valuable Player and to the All-Tournament Team of the four-team event.

The third-seeded Red Hawks, who trailed by seven points at the half, improve to 15-12.  They will play in the national tournament for the first time since 1996 when they advanced to the Sweet 16.  The brackets will be announced on Monday.  St. Lawrence, the top seed, falls to 20-6.

Joining Simmons (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy), who moved into third place on the RPI career scoring list, on the All-Tournament Team was teammate Tim Rupp (Staten Island, NY/Curtis), a junior, as well as St. Lawrence senior captain Tom Wopperer. Clarkson's Ryan Smith and Hamilton's Lance Wilson rounded out the 2009 All-Tournament squad.

The contest began with the Red Hawks earning an eight-point edge before a 12-4 run by the Saints, capped off by back-to-back three's by Wopperer and Garrett Sharlow that knotted the game at 24-24 with 6:24 remaining in the opening half. The two teams traded a basket each when the Saints enjoyed 10-2 fun for a 36-28 lead. The Red Hawks got as close as four points with 42 seconds left in the half but a three point basket from Wopperer gave St. Lawrence a 39-32 edge at the break.

Sharlow recorded 13 points for the Saints in only 12 minutes of action in the first half and Wopperer added 10.  Simmons had 15 points for the Red Hawks to keep the squad within reach.

St. Lawrence enjoyed a lead as big as nine (39-48) with 14:59 to go in the second half, but Rensselaer shut down the Saints offense and capitalized on four minute SLU scoring drought to pull within one point, 48-47, with 11:58 to play in regulation. The teams exchanged shots from beyond the perimeter and a layup from Bela Vonnak gave St. Lawrence a three-point edge over RPI with 9:47 left.

RPI fought back to earn the third tie of the game, 53-53, off a three from Eric Anderson (Merrimack, NH/Merrimack) before Rupp knocked in a jumper from inside the paint for RPI's first lead since the opening half. Despite two more ties down the stretch, Rensselaer used clutch free throw opportunities and threes to clinch the title and a ticket to the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

St. Lawrence shot 43 percent from the field in the first half, but was contained to only 26.5 percent in the second, while Rensselaer shot 65 percent from the floor, including 5-for-8 from three-point range, and 90 percent from the free throw line to seal the victory.

In addition to the contributions received by Simmons, who had 13 points in a semifinal win over Hamilton on Friday, Rupp added 16 points and Anderson supplied 11 points for the winning team.

Sharlow tallied a team-high 15 points with six boards for St. Lawrence.  Wopperer recorded 13 points and Vonnak chipped in 11 points.