CBS/AP/ July 9, 2012, 4:36 PM

Ex-Stanford basketball captain Peter Sauer, 35, dies while playing pickup game

Peter Sauer (5) of the Stanford Cardinals in action during the game against the UCLA Bruins at the Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, California on January 16, 1999. / Getty/Donald Miralle /Allsport

(CBS/AP) STANFORD, Calif. - Peter Sauer, a former captain at Stanford who helped lead the Cardinal to the 1998 Final Four, has died. He was 35.

The school said Monday that Sauer died Sunday night in White Plains, N.Y., while playing in a recreational basketball game.

According to LoHud.com: "A witness said Sauer was standing on the right side of the foul line as someone was shooting a free throw, when he fell back, hit his head on the concrete court, began bleeding and stopped moving. ... Sauer was taken by ambulance to White Plains Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:36 p.m."

The 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward from Pittsburgh was part of a Stanford team that reached four straight NCAA tournaments under former coach Mike Montgomery.

He averaged 7.9 points and 4.2 rebounds for his career, including 9.2 points during his junior season.

Montgomery, now coaching at California, called Sauer "the epitome of the definition of a student-athlete. He was smart; he was tough; he was a winner."

Sauer, who was born in St. Louis on Nov. 9, 1976, earned a degree in economics from Stanford.

He is survived by his wife, Amanda, and three children.