SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock closed the first half with a 9-0 run and ran away from California 74-58 in a PSAC-Western Division contest at Morrow Field House on Wednesday night.

 

Denell Stephens (pictured above) exploded on the offensive end of the floor, leading The Rock with 29 points on 12-of-16 shooting and finishing with 12 rebounds, both game-highs.

 

The game stayed close throughout the first half with the score tied 17-17 with 12:31 left in the half before The Rock went on a 13-2 run to take an 11 point lead, 30-19, with 7:57 to play.

 

The Vulcans clawed back to within four points at 32-28 with 4:37 before the intermission but Slippery Rock slammed the door shut with a 9-0 run to take a 41-28 lead into the break.

 

California clawed back once again, pulling to within six points at 57-51 with 9:29 left in the game but The Rock put together an 8-0 run to increase the lead to 14 at 65-51 with 7:12 to play and maintained a double-digit advantage throughout the rest of the contest.

 

Stephens was joined by Maron Brown and #Michael Evans, Jr.# in double figures. Brown finished with 15 points and Evans, Jr. added 11. Kyle Camper finished with five points and a game-high 12 assists.

 

California had one scorer reach double figures as Kelsey Williams finished with 21 points and eight rebounds.

 

The Rock finished the game shooting 51.7 percent from the field, but struggled from behind the three-point arc and at the free throw line, shooting 29.4 percent from three-point land and 58.3 percent from the charity stripe.

 

California shot 36.8 percent from the field, 27.8 percent from the three-point line and 55.0 percent from the free throw line.

 

The win improves Slippery Rock to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in PSAC-West play. The Vulcans drop to 10-9 overall and 3-4 in league play.

The Rock win, coupled with a Gannon win Wednesday night over Mercyhurst, gave SRU sole possession of fourth place in the PSAC-West standings at the midway mark of the division schedule.

The top four teams in the division at the end of regular-season competition will advance to the conference tournament. SRU has not earned a PSAC playoff berth since the 1999-2000 team lost in the conference championship game.

 

The Rock will stay home this Saturday to play host to Mercyhurst in a PSAC-West contest. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Morrow Field House.