Long Beach Jolted in Philadelphia : Simmons Scores 26 as LaSalle Runs Away in Final, 96-63

Lionel Simmons had 26 points and 14 rebounds Saturday night to lead LaSalle to a 96-63 victory over Cal State Long Beach in the championship game of the Josten’s basketball tournament at the Palestra.

Five players scored in double figures--including reserve forward Bobby Johnson with 18--for LaSalle (5-1), which has 5 straight victories.

After taking a 30-20 halftime lead, LaSalle outscored Long Beach, 26-9, in the first 7:12 of the second half, with Simmons, the tournament’s most valuable player, getting 10 points.

LaSalle built a 74-39 lead on a layup by Johnson with 8:33 left.

Long Beach (2-4) took a 16-13 lead on a jump shot by Darrell Faulkner with 11:05 left in the first half.

But LaSalle then scored 13 straight points, holding Long Beach without a field goal for 8:56.

Doug Overton scored 16 points and Craig Conlin 14 for LaSalle.

Brian Jones had 17 points and Rolf Jacobs 12 for Long Beach.

Jones, Conlin, Overton, John Rankin of Drexel and Walt Frazier of Penn joined Simmons on the all-tournament team.

Drexel beat Pennsylvania, 70-69, for third place in an earlier game Saturday.

Freshman Michael Thompson scored 14 points and made 2 free throws with no time left to lift the Dragons to victory.

John Pettibone made a 3-point shot with 33 seconds left to give Penn a 69-68 lead, but Thompson was fouled while shooting.

Penn took two successive timeouts, but Thompson still made his free throws.

Rankin had 23 points for Drexel (1-4); Frazier had 25 for Penn (2-3).