Boxscore

SALEM, W. Va. -- Senior guard Maurice Douglas scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds Saturday night to lead the unbeaten Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to it seventh win of the season, an 89-69 victory over hosting Salem International University in second-day action of the Joe Manchin Classic.

With the win, The Rock and second-year head coach Kevin Reynolds matched last year's 7-0 start, which stands as the best opening run since the 1963-64 team coached by Hank Baierl started its season with nine straight wins.

In Saturday's game, Douglas headlined a list of six Rock players who had double-digit scoring totals.

Senior guard Michael Evans Jr. scored 14 points and handed out seven assists and senior guard Cecil Brown added 12 points and five assists. Junior forward Maron Brown and senior guard Bryen Spriggs each chipped in 11 points, Spriggs snared six rebounds and Brown collared five rebounds, and sophomore guard Tommy Kelly added 10 points.

Maron Brown, who had 29 points and 23 rebounds in two Classic games, was named after the game ast the event's Most Valuable Player.

The Rock held a commanding 34-point, 53-18, lead at halftime of Saturday's game and enjoyed a 40-point, 76-36, lead with 14 minutes left in the game before Reynolds pulled his starters.

SRU finished the game with a 39% (32 of 83) efficiency on its field goal attempts, hit 36% (17 of 47) of its 3-point attempts and sank eight of 11 (73%) of its free throws.

Salem International ended the game with a 33% (22 of 67) showing on its field goal attempts, hit 25% (3 of 12) from beyond the arc and made 67% (22 of 33) of its charity tosses.

The hosts finished the game with a 52-48 rebounding advantage and was on the high end of a 16-11 turnover comparison.

The Rock is idle until Dec. 21, when it will travel to Shepherd University in West Virginia for its fifth straight road game.

The Green and White's next home game is a Dec. 30, 3 p.m. date with Ohio University Eastern in Morrow Field House.