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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Rock woes continued Sunday afternoon as hosting Mansfield recorded a 77-64 win over the Green and White in Pennsylvania State Athlatic Conference “crossover” action in Morrow Field House.

 

The loss was the eighth straight suffered by SRU, seventh in as many interdivisional games this winter and dropped The Rock's season record to 2-12.

 

SRU will seek to end its skid when it hosts Edinboro at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the opening game of the PSAC-Western Division schedule.

 

Mansfield improved its season record to 11-3 and finished the PSAC “crossover” series with a 4-3 record against PSAC-West teams.

 

The Rock loss overshadowed a strong individual effort by freshman post player #Cory Somerville,# who recorded a "double-double" with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Somerville was one of three Rock players to finish the game with double-digit scoring totals. Junior wingman Jamar Scales scored a team-high 14 points, while senior post player Ken Ottrix added 10 points.

The Rock and Mansfield battled to a virtual stalemate in the first half of action Sunday, at the end of which Mansfield held a 35-33 edge.

 

The score was tied on seven occasions and the lead changed hands 11 times in the opening 20 minutes.

 

The largest leads of the stanza were a pair of six-point advantages for Mansfield, the second of which was a 22-16 lead with eight minutes remaining. The Rock responded with six unanswered points to tie the score at 22-22 with five minutes left.

 

Neither team led by more than two points in the final five minutes of the opening period.

 

The Rock shot 40% (12 of 30) from the field in the opening half, made one of four shots (25%) from 3-point range and canned eight of 12 (66.7%) free throw attempts.

 

Mansfield, which held a commanding 23-11 rebounding lead at intermission, shot 48.3% (14 of 29) from the field, hit two of seven (28.6%) from 3-point range and sank five of eight (62.5%) of its charity tosses.

 

Mansfield scored the first basket of the second half to take a four-point (37-33) lead before SRU responded with four straight points to tie the score at 37-37 with 18:30 left in the game.

From that point on, Mansfield gradually assumed control of things.

 

The Mounties held an 11-point, 58-47, lead just prior to the midway mark of the final 20 minutes and a double-digit lead pretty much from there through the completion of action.

The Rock was unable to close the gap to less than seven points in the final nine minutes of action.