The RPI men’s basketball team climbed through the ranks this past weekend as it claimed the top spot in the Liberty League Championships, which earned it an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
The Red Hawks traveled to St. Lawrence University on Friday to participate in the first of two semifinal games in the Liberty League Tournament. RPI faced the second-seeded Hamilton College Continentals in an intense race to the finish. Early into the first half, the Continentals built a five-point lead over the Red Hawks, but RPI came back and kept within two points until gaining a 16-15 lead with less than eight minutes left in the half. The Red Hawks held onto this lead as they finished up the first half, 25-23.
The second half was met with equal success, as the Red Hawks continued to lead in scoring. Hamilton, however, was able to tie the score at 29-29 with 16 minutes left in play. But RPI quickly scored and never let Hamilton come any closer. The Red Hawks managed to earn a seven-point advantage over the Continentals with nine minutes left in play. From there, Hamilton tried desperately to catch up, but RPI earned a double-digit lead that secured its advance to the Liberty League championship with a 64-55 win.
Senior Sam Simmons led the team in points with a total of 13, while juniors Tim Rupp and Ricky Philatre collected 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The following day, the Red Hawks returned to the finals to face the first-seeded team, the St. Lawrence Saints. The game opened with the Red Hawks gaining as much as an eight-point lead over the Saints before a 12-4 run by St. Lawrence tied the game at 24-24 with six minutes remaining in the first half.
The Saints soon went on a 10-2 run to put some distance between itself and RPI. The Red Hawks got as close as four points with less than one minute left, but a few three-pointers from the Saints brought the score to 39-32 at the break. Simmons scored 15 of RPI’s total points in the half.
St. Lawrence continued to lead throughout the majority of the second frame, but RPI was able to bring the game to within one point with 12 minutes left in regulation. The Red Hawks earned the third tie of the game off a three-pointer by junior Eric Anderson. Neither team made any advances for the next three minutes until Rupp scored, earning RPI its first lead since the opening half. A few free throws closed out the second half with RPI in the lead 72-65, naming the Red Hawks the Liberty League champions.
Simmons scored a game-high 20 points in the title game, moving him to third place on the career scoring list for the Red Hawks. Simmons was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and both he and Rupp were named to the All-Tournament Team. With these two wins, the Red Hawks improve to 15-12 in the season. RPI will now face The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in the NCAA Division-III tournament.
