College Basketball Roundup : TOURNAMENTS : LaSalle Beats Fordham for NCAA Berth, 79-70

Rich Tarr hit six three-point shots and scored 24 points Monday night to lead La Salle past Fordham, 79-70, at East Rutherford, N.J., in the championship game of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament.

The Explorers (24-9) won their 15th straight game, tying a school record, and earned their first berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament since the 1982-83 season.

Sophomore Lionel Simmons, MAAC player of the year, added 23 points and broke Tom Gola’s LaSalle single-season scoring record. Simmons has 772 points, breaking Gola’s mark of 750 set in 1955.

Fordham (18-14) had an early eight-point lead, but LaSalle rallied to take a 29-25 halftime lead. Tarr hit two three-point shots and a layup after a steal to fuel a 12-2 run that gave La Salle a 41-27 lead with 16:29 left.

Fordham’s Greg Pedro, who had 32 points that included eight three-pointers, hit three straight three-pointers in an 11-2 spurt that got the Rams within 43-38 with 13:32 remaining.

Simmons had six points in a 14-3 run by La Salle that ended the Rams’ bid for their first NCAA berth since 1971.

ATLANTIC 10

Rhode Island 104, Rutgers 73--Tom Garrick scored a tournament-record 50 points, and the Rams trounced the Scarlet Knights in a quarterfinal game of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Morgantown, W.Va.

Rhode Island (25-5) plays West Virginia in tonight’s semifinals.

Garrick broke the tournament record of 34 points set by James Bailey of Rutgers against West Virginia in 1978.

Rhode Island’s 104 points also are a tournament record, breaking the record of 95 set by West Virginia against Duquesne in 1980.

Tom Savage scored 21 points for Rutgers (7-22).

St. Joseph’s 85, Penn State 78--In the other quarterfinal game, Ivan Brown’s three-point play six seconds into overtime started a 10-0 run that led the Hawks past the Nittany Lions.

The victory moved St. Joseph’s (15-13) into tonight’s semifinals against No. 1 Temple.

Penn State (13-14) trailed, 44-22, with 18 minutes left in regulation but tied the score on two free throws by Wes Jones and two more by Mike Iuzzolino with 1:18 left.

The Hawks made 18 free throws in overtime.

Brown scored 24 points for St. Joseph, and Tony Ward had 17 for Penn State.

COLONIAL

Richmond 74, George Mason 71--Benjy Taylor hit four free throws in the final 1:50, and the Spiders beat the Patriots to win the Colonial Athletic Assn. tournament at Hampton, Va.

Taylor came off the bench to rally the Spiders (24-6) from a 71-70 deficit after his teammates missed five free throws.

The victory gave Richmond a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Anthony Davis scored 19 points for George Mason (20-10).

SUN BELT

N.C. Charlotte 81, Va. Commonwealth 79--Dan Plondke made three free throws in the last two minutes, and the 49ers won their first Sun Belt Conference Tournament in 11 years and earned an NCAA berth at Richmond, Va.

Plondke, who had 16 points and 9 rebounds, made two free throws with 1:57 left to give the 49ers (22-8) the lead for good, 78-76. He rebounded a miss by Vince Wilson of Virginia Commonwealth (21-11) with two seconds left and hit one free throw after being fouled.

Byron Dinkins, Sun Belt Conference player of the year, scored 26 points for N.C. Charlotte. Phil Stinnie scored 25 for the Rams.

NONCONFERENCE

Notre Dame 100, Hardin-Simmons 71--Gary Voce scored 24 points, and David Rivers added 22 to reach 2,000 for his career as the Irish routed the Cowboys at South Bend, Ind.

Rivers, playing his last regular-season game at Notre Dame, has 2,014 points in his four seasons. He is third on Notre Dame’s all-time behind Austin Carr’s 2,560 and Adrian Dantley’s 2,223. Rivers also handed out 10 assists.

Keith Robinson had 21 points for the Irish (19-8). Vince Langston scored 18 for Hardin-Simmons (18-11).