Final statistics

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Five players scored in double figures to lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a 91-81 win over Clarion in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division opener for both teams Wednesday night at Morrow Field House.

Slippery Rock (11-4, 1-0 PSAC-W) was led by career-best performances from guards Jon Valeriano and Rashiid Coleman.

Valeriano was the only player to record a double-double, finishing with career-highs of 12 points and 10 assists. Coleman also hit his career high in the scoring column, netting 18 points off the bench.

The most consistent scorers for Slippery Rock also had big nights, as leading scorers Jabril Bailey, Maron Brown and Devin Taylor all scored over 17 points. Bailey topped all SRU players with 19 points, while Taylor added 18 and Brown chipped in 17.

Brown is now only four points away from becoming the 20th player in SRU men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points. He now has 694 career rebounds, which ranks 14th on that career list.

Wednesday's win was fourth straight for The Rock, who have now rung the victory bell 11 times in their last 13 games after an 0-2 start to the season.

The Rock's run of success will get a stern test Saturday as the Green and White travel to defending NCAA Division II national runner-up Indiana U. of Pa. for a 7:30 p.m. game against the Crimson Hawks. Indiana (10-3 overall, 1-0 PSAC-W) won its division opener by a 65-45 score Wednesday over Gannon.

Clarion, picked in a preseason poll of the division's head coaches to finish second in this year's PSAC-West competition, suffered its third straight loss after opening the season with nine consecutive wins.

The Rock finished Wednesday's game with a season-best 57.4% (31-54) accuracy on its field goal attempts, spurred by a white-hot 61.5% (16-26) effort in the first half of action.

The Green and White also shot a season-best 82.1% (23-28) from the foul line in the game, as well as a very respectable 42.9% (6-14) from 3-point range. The Rock was 17-of-21 (81%) from the foul line in the second half of action and 15-of-17 (88.2%) in the final three and a half minutes.

Clarion finished the game with a respectable 43.1% (31-72) efficiency from the field, a 43.8% (7-16) effort from 3-point range and a lukewarm 60% (12-20) from the foul line.

Quintus Teer grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to lead Clarion to a 36-32 advantage on the boards, The Golden Eagles also had two less turnovers (12-10) than The Rock.

Lloyd Harrison scored a game-high 26 points for Clarion, Jamar Harrison added 19, Teer chipped in 14 and Paul McQueen contributed 13.

Clarion took the first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Lloyd Harrison in the first minute of action and remained ahead until the 14:15 mark of the opening stanza, when an old-fashioned three-point play by Bailey gave The Rock its first lead, 9-8.


Four lead changes and one tied score later, SRU took the lead for good on a Brown jumper that put the hosts up 15-13 with 11:30 left before the intermission.

The Rock held two eight-point leads in the next six-plus minutes en route to a six-point, 38-32, halftime advantage.

SRU then opened the second half of action with an 11-0 run to push the margin to 17 points, 49-32, with 17:30 left to play in the game before Clarion clawed its way back.

The Golden Eagles trimmed the deficit to six points on four occasions, the final one a 69-63 count with 4:30 remaining, but was never able to get any closer as The Rock iced the win with clutch baskets and free throw shooting.

Notes:

Prior to Wednesday night, Coleman's best scoring effort this winter was a 15-point performance Dec. 30 vs. Grove City ... Valeriano's previous best scoring total was 11 points Dec. 4 vs. Nyack (N.Y.) ... Wednesday's "double-double" was Valeriano's first of the season, while the double-digit scoring effort was his second in as many games and third of the season ... The Rock's point total Wednesday was its third best of the season, behind only the 97 and 92 points the Green and White scored in wins over Ohio University Eastern ... Kevin Reynolds, who owns a 47-25 record at SRU, is three wins shy of tying the school record for the most wins by a Rock men's basketball coach in his first three seasons. He already holds the school mark for victories in the first season (21) as well as the first two seasons (36) ... Reynolds-coached Rock teams are now 3-0 in PSAC-West openers.