Jan. 28, 2009

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WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army's Julian Simmons drained two free throws with 6.6 seconds left to steal a 57-56 win away from Lafayette on Wednesday at Christl Arena.

Following the free throws, Lafayette inbounded the ball and Andrew Brown dribbled it across halfcourt where he called a timeout with 3.6 seconds left. Jeff Kari could not find any open players on the inbounds play and called Lafayette's final timeout.

After the timeout, Kari inbounded the ball to Brown, who drove to the free throw line but could not get a clear look at the basket. He lobbed a shot that clanked off the side of the rim, allowing the Black Knights to escape with a victory.

Despite a scoreless second half, junior Michael Gruner led Lafayette (6-14, 2-4) with 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Simmons and Cleveland Richard paced the Black Knights (6-13, 2-3) with 20 points and 16 points, respectively.

Threes by Gruner and Deirunas Visockas helped Lafayette jump out to a 13-6 lead at 14:02.

Richard then took over the Army offense, scoring nine straight points after he converted a three-point play at 13:01 to knot the score at 15.

Army claimed its first lead of the game, 18-17, when Simmons drained a three-pointer at 7:30 remaining. They maintained the lead and closed out the half with a 33-26 advantage.

Kari and Ryan Willen sank consecutive threes to open the half, but Simmons responded with two threes of his own. Neither team scored for nearly three minutes before Army went on a 6-0 spurt to lead by 11 with 10:20 remaining in the half.

The Leopards fired back with a 15-3 run spanning nearly seven minutes and Brown drained his only three-pointer of the game to regain the lead, 51-49, with 3:34 to go. Willen extended the lead to five with a three-point play with 2:01, but Lafayette committed costly fouls that put Army on the free throw line.

Owning a one-point lead, Jared Mintz made a layup with 26.2 seconds remaining but the basket was wiped off as he was whistled for an offensive foul. Lafayette was called for another foul at the defensive end of the floor and Simmons went to the charity stripe to seal the game.

The Leopards continue their travels on Saturday when they face American for a 2 p.m. tipoff at Bender Arena.