SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament with a 61-58 win over Mercyhurst University Monday night at Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock, seeded third in the PSAC West, improved to 21-8 with the victory and will travel to second seed Gannon University Wednesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip in the quarterfinals. Sixth-seeded Mercyhurst finishes its season with a 13-14 overall record.
 
Slippery Rock had to battle hard for the victory Monday night after scoring just 21 points and shooting 25.8 percent from the field in the first half. The Lakers actually shot worse over the opening 20 minutes at just 23.8 percent, but took a 25-21 lead into halftime.
 
The Rock rallied in the second half with a 59.1 percent shooting effort from the field and continued their tenacious defensive effort, holding Mercyhurst to just 36 percent in the second half.
 
The Lakers led 35-27 with 16:12 to play before Slippery Rock took over and put together a 21-5 run over a stretch of eight minutes to open up a 48-40 lead with 8:18 to play. Mercyhurst would cut the margin to three points on four separate occasions, including the final time with 44 seconds remaining. The Rock took a shot clock violation after a miss on their final possession to give the Lakers the ball with 13 seconds left, but SRU knocked the ball away twice and Mercyhurst never managed to get a final shot attempt off.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game shooting 39.6 percent from the field (21-of-53), 14.3 percent from 3-point (2-of-14) and 68 percent from the free throw line (17-of-25). The Rock allowed 29 rebounds in the first half, but held Mercyhurst to just 12 boards in the second half to finish the night with a 45-41 edge on the glass.
 
Mercyhurst used that early rebounding advantage and an edge on the offensive glass to take 14 more field goal attempts in the game and scored 19 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds. The Lakers finished the night shooting just 28.4 percent from the field (19-of-67) and 34.8 percent from 3-point (8-of-23). They were much better at the free throw line, going 92.3 percent (12-of-13), but didn't have a single free throw attempt in the first half.
 
The Rock were paced by Micah Till, who struggled early on and made just one of his first nine shot attempts, but flipped the switch early in the second half and made seven of his final nine shots from the field to finish with a game-high 24 points. He also pulled down 13 rebounds for his 21st double-double of the year and in the process became the fifth player in SRU history to reach 600 points in a single-season. Already the single-season rebounding record holder, Till became the first player in SRU history to record 600 points and 350 rebounds in a single-season.
 
Bruce Spruell added 12 points and six rebounds as the only other player for SRU to reach double figures. Merdic Green scored eight points, Christal Malalu added seven points and four blocked shots and Brandon Simmons scored five points.
 
Mercyhurst was paced by Lorenzo Collier with 13 points on a 3-of-13 shooting effort. Connor Polce scored 12 points and Patrick Smith and Derrick Ellis each scored nine points.
 
Monday's game evened the all-time series between Slippery Rock and Mercyhurst at 26 wins apiece and evened their PSAC playoff series at 2-2.
 
The Rock will now turn their focus to Gannon in a rematch from Saturday afternoon when the Golden Knights scored a late-win to clinch the No. 2 seed. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night from the Hammermill Center.
 
 
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