BOSTON, Mass. – Senior forward Sam Simmons (Newburgh, N.Y.) pumped in a career-high 31 points on 14-of-27-shooting to go along with 10 rebounds as Rensselaer improved to 3-3 with its second straight win, 76-62, over Wentworth (4-3) in a non-conference contest played at Tansey Gymnasium.
Wentworth took an early 6-0 lead, thanks to a basket by sophomore forward Shane West (Saco, Maine) and consecutive baskets from sophomore forward Matt Abbott (Falmouth, Mass.). After the Red Hawks cut the lead one on a three pointer from senior guard Kris Kowalczyk (Troy, N.Y.) and a tip-in by Simmons off his own miss, the Leopards brought the lead back to four when senior guard Sherrad Prezzie-Blue (Norwalk, Conn.) buried a three of his own.
Simmons would score the next four points to tie the game at 9-all and senior guard Dan Galvin (Newburyport, Mass.) hit one of two free throws to give RPI its first lead (10-9) with 14:41 to play. The teams would battle back and forth, with Simmons hitting a jumper on a fast break to tie the game for the fourth time in the first 8:22—16-all. His basket began a 12-0 run and gave the Red Hawks a 12-point lead with just over seven minutes left in the half. A three pointer by junior guard Todd Doyle (Mystic, Conn.) with 6:48 left ended a scoreless streak of 4:54 for Wentworth.
RPI would bring its lead back up to 12 and would not let the Leopards get closer than eight points, which they did when Prezzie-Blue hit two free throws with 1:29 left. However, the Red Hawks would lead, 41-30, at the break Over the first 20:00 of play, RPI committed just one turnover.
Using a 12-0 run over the first 4:20 of the second half, Wentworth took the lead, 42-41, on a Prezzie-Blue layup. Simmons snapped RPI’s 5:29 scoreless streak by scoring the Red Hawks’ next eight points in an 8-1 run that would give the visitors a 49-43 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining. A layup by West with 9:13 left would mark the first field goal for Wentworth over a span of 6:27 and would pull Wentworth to within three (49-46).
Senior guard Sam Zullo (Indian Lake, N.Y.) drained a three to push the lead back to six before Prezzie-Blue hit a jumper to cut the lead to four. That would be as close as Wentworth would get, as a junior forward Dan Rourke (Scotia, N.Y.) three pointer began a 10-0 run that would stretch the lead to 14.
In addition to Simmons, Zullo had 11 points and six assists, while sophomore forward Ricky Philatre (Randolph, Mass.) grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
For Wentworth, Prezzie-Blue scored a team-high 24 points and dished out four assists. In three games this week, he averaged 27.0 points per game, which included a school record-tying 36 in a 91-89 win over Framingham State. West had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Abbott had 11 points, seven rebounds, and a pair of blocked shots.
Both teams will be headed to Florida for their next games. Wentworth will compete in the Cruzin’ Classic at Barry University, where the Leopards’ next game will be against Newport News on Dec. 18 at 4:00 p.m. RPI will enjoy the week between Christmas and New Years at the Land of Magic Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla., where the Red Hawks’ opponent will be Ursinus on Dec. 28 at 1:00 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score Rensselaer vs Wentworth 12/08/07 3:00 pm at Boston, Mass. (Tansey Gymnasium) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Rensselaer 3-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 45 Ricky Philatre...... f 2-6 0-0 2-3 4 7 11 2 6 0 0 0 1 25 52 Mike Brion.......... f 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 1 0 1 18 54 Sam Simmons......... f 14-27 0-0 3-6 5 5 10 3 31 3 3 1 0 31 05 Devin Galvin........ g 1-3 0-1 4-6 0 0 0 1 6 1 2 0 3 24 22 Kris Kowalczyk...... g 2-3 1-1 3-6 1 1 2 0 8 3 1 0 0 23 10 Nick Korbas......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 12 Sam Zullo........... 3-6 2-3 3-3 0 3 3 1 11 6 0 0 1 23 15 Ike Rodriguez....... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 5 20 Rashad Simmons...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 4 25 Jeremy Colon........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 32 Jeremy Bull......... 1-5 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 0 2 17 34 Dan Rourke.......... 3-8 1-2 0-0 3 4 7 3 7 0 1 0 0 16 35 Andrew Darst........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 42 DJ Blakemore........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 TEAM................ 1 1 2 Totals.............. 27-66 4-10 18-28 16 27 43 18 76 16 10 1 10 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-40 42.5% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 40.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 40.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-9 55.6% 2nd Half: 13-19 68.4% Game: 64.3% 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Wentworth 4-3 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 23 Matt Abbott......... f 4-9 0-2 3-4 2 5 7 4 11 0 3 2 0 22 52 Shane West.......... f 5-11 0-0 2-4 3 5 8 5 12 3 4 1 0 33 12 Ed Bolton........... g 1-4 0-3 1-1 1 4 5 4 3 2 2 0 0 16 20 Brad Bryant......... g 0-2 0-2 2-3 0 4 4 3 2 4 4 0 3 31 44 Sherrad Prezzie-Blue g 7-13 4-7 6-6 2 0 2 3 24 4 1 0 1 36 11 Kevin Wentworth..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 14 Todd Doyle.......... 3-9 2-4 2-3 1 4 5 2 10 2 1 0 0 30 24 Gil Ward............ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 32 Pat LaCasse......... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 16 33 Colin O'Donnell..... 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 6 TEAM................ 3 3 1 Totals.............. 20-53 6-20 16-21 9 30 39 25 62 15 19 3 4 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-24 41.7% 2nd Half: 10-29 34.5% Game: 37.7% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-11 27.3% Game: 30.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 7-9 77.8% 2nd Half: 9-12 75.0% Game: 76.2% 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Rich Myers, Larry Cavanaugh, Pat Burns Technical fouls: Rensselaer-None. Wentworth-Matt Abbott. Attendance: 463 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Rensselaer.................... 41 35 - 76 Wentworth..................... 30 32 - 62 Points in the paint-RPI 42,WIT 20. Points off turnovers-RPI 23,WIT 10. 2nd chance points-RPI 19,WIT 5. Fast break points-RPI 6,WIT 7. Bench points-RPI 23,WIT 10. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-5 times. Last FG-RPI 2nd-02:51, WIT 2nd-01:34. Largest lead-RPI by 15 2nd-01:08, WIT by 6 1st-18:00.