Boxscore
CALIFORNIA, Pa. -- Senior forward
Denell Stephens recorded his team-best 14th "double-double" of the season Wednesday night to lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a 66-59 win over hosting California (Pa.) in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action.
Stephens, one of four Rock players to finish the game with double-digit scoring totals, scored 14 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked two shots as The Rock extended its current win streak to seven games and improved its season records to 19-7 overall, 10-3 in PSAC-West action.
The overall win total represents a 12-game improvement over last year's 7-20 final record.
A win in Saturday's regular-season finale vs. Indiana (Pa.) would give The Rock, under the guidance of first-year head coach
Kevin Reynolds, its first 20-win season since 1990-91.
A win Saturday would also give The Rock a host role for Tuesday's opening-round game in the PSAC postseason tournament. Depending on how division-leading Gannon (22-3, 10-2) fares Thursday night vs. crosstown rival Mercyhurst, a win over Indiana could also give The Rock a share of the PSAC-West regular-season championship.
The Rock and Indiana (21-5, 10-3) are currently tied for second place, one-half game behind Gannon (22-3, 10-2), in the division standings.
In a preseason poll of the division's head coaches, The Rock was picked to finish sixth in this winter's seven-team PSAC-West competition. But, instead of being on the outside looking in, the Green and White will be competing in the conference tournament for the first time since 1999-2000.
Junior guard
Maurice Douglas (pictured above) buried five 3-point shots and scored a team-high 19 points Wednesday for The Rock, while junior shooting guard
Michael Evans Jr. added three treys and 13 points. Sophomore post player
Maron Brown chalked up his 10th "double-double" of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior point guard
Kyle Camper set a new PSAC mark for single-season assists Wednesday when he handed out eight to improve his season total to 279. The old mark of 273 was shared by Edinboro's Adam Kaufman (1997-98) and California's Darnell White (1993-94).
Camper's assists total is 20 more than the previous SRU mark held by Brent Schrempt (1994-95).
Behind the 1-2 punch of Douglas and Brown, The Rock reigned in the rebounding battle by a 52-37 margin, which allowed SRU to overcome a 17-7 turnover difference that was not in their favor.
The teams battled to a 26-26 stalemate in the opening 20 minutes of action, during which the score was tied five times and the lead changed hands once.
All told, there were seven ties and four lead changes in the game.
The Rock trailed by five points, 46-41, at the midway mark of the second half but then went on a 23-8 run in the next nine and a half minutes to take a 10-point (64-54) lead with 30 seconds left to play and coasted home from there.
SRU finished the game with a 37.1% (23 of 62) efficiency on its action shot attempts, including an 8-of-23 (34.8%) effort from 3-point range, but nailed 12 of 14 (85.7%) free throws.
California shot 34.8% (24 of 69) from the field, 29.4% (5 of 17) from beyond the arc and a frigid 37.5% (6 of 16) from the charity stripe..
