McCANDLESS, Pa. - The clutch-est player on the best team in the conference hit the shots when they counted the most. Senior guard Darius Lawrence (Ambridge, PA/Ambridge), as he has done all season long, had the ball in his hands when the Redhawks needed a win. In today's 62-61 victory over Penn St. Behrend in the AMCC Championship game at the Kerr Fitness Center, Lawrence took it to the basket, got fouled, and hit two free throws with less than 30 seconds remaining to give LRU a one point lead. The Redhawks defense fended off a last effort attempt by Behrend's Kenny Fulkon, who score a game-high 21 points. La Roche and Penn St. Behrend have met in three straight title games, the Redhawks have won two. All of them, have been decided by three points or less.
La Roche has now won four men's basketball championships (2004, 2011, 2018, 2020). Head Coach Hermie Carmichael has been apart of three of those four teams, serving under the late great Coach Scott Lang and current assistant coach Harry Jenkins in 2011 and leading the helm of men's basketball in 2018 and 2020.
Darius Lawrence finished with a team-high 15 points while shooting 5 of 9 (56%) from the field and a perfect 4 of 4 at the free throw line. He also added four rebounds, three assists and a block.
Kennedy Smith provided 14 points, six rebounds, an assist and a steal while shooting 6 of 10 (60%) from the floor.
Tyler Frederick contributed 12 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and an assist.
Frederick and Lawrence were named to the All-Tournament team.
The Redhawks will go dancing for the second time in three seasons and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA national tournament. Pairings will be announced on Monday.
Final: La Roche 62, Penn St. Behrend 61
Records: La Roche (21-6), Penn St. Behrend (20-8)
How it Happened
Behrend scored the first points of the game before the Redhawks answered with back-to-back baskets by Kennedy Smith to take the 4-2 lead. Penn State Behrend guard Derrick Clark knocked down a three to make it 5-4, but that was the last time the Lions would be on top in the first half. The game stayed tight, as the Redhawks held a narrow lead throughout much of the first half. A Darrell Barron three-pointer with 3:45 to play in the half gave the Redhawks a seven point lead, their biggest lead at that point of the game. The two teams exchanged baskets for the final three minutes, but two free throws by Austin Hannes with :04 on the clock gave La Roche a 31-23 lead at the break. Kennedy Smith paced the Redhawks in the first half with 10 points and three rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. Mitchell King and Tyler Gates fueled the Lions with seven points a piece.
The Behrend Lions came out of the locker room and erased the eight point lead in the first five minutes of the second half. After Devin Pope sunk two free throws for the Lions to open the second half and La Roche's Darius Lawrence connected on a three-pointer for the Redhawks, Penn State Behrend went on a 10-0 run, including six points from Gates to take the 35-34 lead with 14:49 to play. The lead would continue to change hands nine times over the next 14 minutes, with La Roche holding the biggest lead of the half at the 7:51 mark when Hannes nailed a three to give the Redhawks a six-point lead (53-47). However, Fukon scored six straight points of his own over the next minute and a half to once again tie the game at 53-all with 6:17 to play. The score remain knotted for over a minute, until Pope sunk a free throw with just under five minutes to go to give the Lions the one point edge. Four more points by La Roche and another three by Fukon put the score at 57-57 with three minutes left on the clock.
Behrend reclaimed the one-point lead with less than a minute to play when King sunk two free throws with :56 on the clock. A Behrend foul sent Lawrence to the line with :35 to play where he nailed both to put La Roche up 62-61. A Behrend layup attempt right before the final buzzer bounced around the rim and eventually fell out, ending the Lions hope for a repeat conference title.
Fukon led all scorers with 21 points, while also adding three assists and two steals. -Courtesy of the AMCC.
Inside the Box Score
Today's contest was as close as they come. The game saw an incredible 10 ties and 13 lead changes.
The Redhawks shot 42% (21-50) from the floor and Behrend shot 40% (22-55).
La Roche shot 76.5% (13-17) from the line while the Lions shot 86.7% (13-15).
Joe Pipilo shot 2 of 4 froom deep and finished with eight points, identical stats to what he posted in the Penn St. Altoona semi-final match. Pipilo has drained multiple three's in seven of his last eight games, shooting 50% or better from long range in every single one.
NEXT UP: La Roche will find out who they face in Round 1 of the NCAA D-III tournament on Monday afternoon. Updates to follow.
