Box Score
Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Senior forward Sam Simmons (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) scored a game-high 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting to lead the Rensselaer men's basketball team to a 65-61 victory over Hobart, this afternoon at Robison Gym. With the win, the Red Hawks improve to 11-9 overall and 5-4 in the Liberty League. The Statesmen fall to 7-13 and 4-5 in the conference.

Simmons biggest basket came when drilled a straight away three-pointer with 40 seconds left in the game, to give RPI a four-point lead. The triple answered a pair of free-throws from Hobart sophomore Tim Llewellyn (York, PA/West York) that had cut the Red Hawks lead to just one with under two minutes to go.

Rensselaer was able to withstand a Rob Estep (York, PA/West York) three with four seconds left, thanks to perfect foul shooting in the final 30 seconds from junior Tim Rupp (Staten Island, NY/Curtis) and sophomore DJ Blakemore (Bloomfield Township, MI/Lahser). Estep's basket cut the Statesmen deficit to two, before Blakemore hit a pair from the line to give the hosts back their four-point edge with less than a second remaining.

The Red Hawks started the game strong and led by as much as nine points (14-5) on a break-away slam dunk by Simmons with 13:09 left in the opening frame. The visitors from Hobart began chipping away at that lead, however, and cut it one (15-14) on a lay-up, foul and made free throw by freshman Matt Pebole (Little Silver, NJ/Red Bank) at 9:52 of the first.

Three-pointers from Simmons and sophomore Mike Brion (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) helped push the Red Hawks advantage back to nine (23-14) with 8:16 left in the first. Pebole kept the Statesmen within striking distance late in the half scoring all three of the teams points in the last three and half minutes before the break. RPI led 31-26 at halftime.

Estep gave Hobart its first lead of the game (34-33) on a jump shot, less than three minutes into the second half. Freshman Greg Stern (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville DeWitt) expanded that lead to four (39-35), on a triple with 17:06 to go.

Rupp was able to get the basket for a lay-in to tie the game at 39 with 14:23 left. The teams, then traded leads until jumpers from RPI seniors Kyle Jung (Goshen, NY/Goshen) and Simmons gave the Red Hawks a five-point advantage (46-41), midway through the second.

Rensselaer built its lead up to 11 (55-44) thanks to a 9-3 run that was capped off by a Jeremy Colon (Manchester, NY/West) free-throw line jumper at 6:41. Consecutive baskets from Hobart sophomore Adam Salzmann (Connelly, NY/Kingston), Pebole and Estep, however, whittled the RPI advantage to just three with just under three minutes to play.

Llewellyn's two free throws cut the Red Hawks' lead to one, before Simmons hit the three-pointer to regain a two possession edge.

Brion added 11 points and five rebounds to the Red Hawks attack, while Rupp had 10 points and four boards. Junior Ricky Philatre (Randolph, MA/Randolph) hauled in a game-high 12 boards to go along with two points, two steals and a block.

The Statesmen were led by Estep's 22 points, five rebounds and two assists. Pebole finished with 20 points and five boards, while Salzmann had seven points and a team-best nine rebounds.

RPI returns to action next Friday and Saturday, when it hosts Union (8pm) and Skidmore (4pm), respectively. Hobart travel to the North Country to take on St. Lawrence (8pm) and Clarkson (4pm).