ERIE, Pa. - With 12 seconds left on the clock in a 55-55 game against the reigning AMCC Champs, Penn St. Behrend (9-4, 6-2), Head Coach Hermie Carmichael called upon Senior guard Darius Lawrence (Ambridge, PA/Ambridge) to take the Redhawks final shot. Coming out of a timeout, Lawrence got the inbound, patiently waited, crossed his defender, euro-stepped between two Lions and layed it in to put LRU up 57-55 with only 5 seconds remaining. After Penn St. Behrend missed the final shot, the Redhawks celebrated their biggest win so far this season. Lawrence woke up this morning feeling dangerous and led the Redhawks in scoring for the second straight game. The veteran guard finished with a game-high 17 points, 4 assists, and shot a perfect 8 of 8 from the free-throw line.
The last time the conference opponents met was last years AMCC Championship Game when the Lions handed the Redhawks their only conference loss of the season. La Roche, now 8-0 against the AMCC this season, has won 28 straight conference regular season games dating back to 2017.
Penn St. Behrend, who averages 74.6 points per game, was held to only 55 points and 19 field goals, both season-lows for the Lions.
Final: La Roche: 57, Penn St. Behrend: 55
Records: La Roche (8-5, 8-0), Penn St. Behrend (9-4, 6-2)
How it Happened
The Lions jumped out to an early 16-8 lead seven minutes into the first half. Austin Hannes pulled the Redhawks to within three points after launching and nailing a shot from nearly 25-feet out.Trailing 23-31 with a minute to play in the half, the Redhawks managed to produce four straight points.
Jioni Smith stole the ball and capitalized on a poor inbound pass and Darius Lawrence knocked down two clutch free throws with 12 seconds on the clock after getting fouled driving to the basket. La Roche managed to chip away at Behrend's lead, but were unable to get a leg up on the Lions. PSB would lead 27-31 after 20 minutes of action. The Redhawks 27 points is their lowest first half total against an AMCC opponent this season.
The conference foes opened up the second half exchanging buckets while the Lions retained their two possesion lead. Then, Darius Lawrence completed back-to-back three point plays to even the score at 38 points a piece with 14:49 to play. The Redhawks took their first lead of the game after Desmond Ross shot 1 of 2 at the free-throw line.
After holding the Lions scoreless for two minutes and 49 seconds, Nolan Nuara hit a big three-pointer to put the Lions back up by one with 12:00 to play. La Roche finally got their first lead of the contest after Kennedy Smith grabbed his own offensive board and found Tyler Frederick down low for an easy bucket to put the Redhawks up 44-43.
Penn St. Behrend refused to go away, the Lion's Mitchell King hit a big 3-PT to put the Lions up 53-52 with only 2:34 left. After the teams exchanged fouls and free-throws, the score was tied 55-55 with 12 seconds to go, La Roche held possession. After a Redhawks timeout, Darius Lawrence got the ball at the top of the key, sliced through the Lions defense and scored the go-ahead bucket to give the Redhawks their seventh straight win.
Inside the Box Score
Junior forward Tyler Frederick collected his sixth straight double-double in today's contest, posting 13 points and 10 rebounds. Frederick has a conference-high eight double-double's so far this season.
Senior guard Kennedy Smith was the only other Redhawk to finish in double-digit figures, posting 10 points and 8 rebounds. Smith has scored 10 or more points in all but one game this season.
Today, the Redhawks edged the Lions by a single field goal. La Roche shot 20 of 57 (35%) from the field while Penn St. Behrend shot 19 of 50 (38%). After winning their first five AMCC games shooting 50% from the field or better, La Roche has shot under 50% from the field in their last three contests and has still managed to win.
La Roche committed only 11 turnovers to Penn St. Behrend's 17. LRU has averaged only 11.5 turnovers per game in conference play (1st in AMCC).
Jioni Smith and Desmond Ross combined for 13 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.
Only one Lion finished in double-digit scoring figures (Kenny Fukon: 14).
NEXT UP: Men's basketball continues conference road action next Wednesday, January 15th at Francsican. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.