Boxscore
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Chestnut Hill College outscored hosting Slippery Rock University by a 16-4 margin in the final five and a half minutes of action Monday afternoon to record a 66-61 victory in non-conference men's basketball action.
The loss was SRU's third in the last five games and dropped the Green and White's season record to 5-4.
The win was the 10th in 14 games this winter for Chestnut Hill, which got blown out by an 88-48 margin 24 hours earlier at California (Pa.), a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division rival of SRU.
Dan Comas scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Golden Eagles. Mark DiRugeris Jr. added 17 points and Alssene Sanitilus chipped in 12 points.
Senior forward
Devin Taylor recorded his fourth "double-double" of the season with an 11-point, 12-rebound performance to lead The Rock attack. Senior point guard
Jon Valeriano also scored 11 points, junior guard
Aubin Reeves added 10 points and redshirt sophomore forward
Tabari Perry chipped in nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Rock shot 38% (25-66) from the field with a 30% (7-23) subtotal on 3-point attempts and sank an icy-cold four of 10 free throws. That, combined with 21 turnovers, negated a 47-31 Rock rebounding advantage.
Chestnut Hill made 46% (23-50) of its field-goal attempts, including a 31% (4-13) showing on long-range shots, and canned 70% (16-23) of its charity tosses. The Griffins turned the ball over 15 times and held a 9-1 advantage in steals.
The Rock is idle until Dec. 30, when they will host Ohio University Eastern in a 3 p.m. non-conference game in Morrow Field House. That will be the second in a string of five straight home games the Green and White will play.
SRU entertains Cheyney and Shippensburg on back-to-back 7:30 p.m. games Jan, 6 and 7 to close out its eight-game PSAC interdivisional schedule before hosting Lock Haven in an 8 p.m. game Jan. 11 to open the PSAC-West schedule.
The Rock held a 57-50 lead with 5:30 left to play in Monday's game before Chestnut Hill went on an 11-2 run that gave the guests a 61-59 lead with 1:15 remaining. The Griffins never trailed thereafter.
The closing-minutes drought was the second significant one of the game incurred by The Rock, who held a 10-point, 28-18, advantage with 3:45 left before halftime but took only a 32-26 lead into the intermission.
Chestnut Hill opened the second half of action with an 15-5 run to take a 41-37 lead with 15:45 left to play before The Rock recovered and went on a 13-1 run to take an eight-point, 50-42, advantage with 10:45 remaining.
The Rock maintained a relatively safe lead for the next five minutes before Chestnut Hill made its decisive closing run.
Notes:
Taylor has four of the six "double-double" efforts this winter ... Junior center
Luiz Santos and freshman guard
Chaquille Pratt have one "D-D" each ... Monday's loss denied fourth-year Rock head coach
Kevin Reynolds the opportunity to move into a tie with Arthur Gant (1912-18) for fourth place on the SRU all-time wins chart. Reynolds now owns a 62-35 record as The Rock's boss. He is three wins shy of tying Dave Rooney (1979-85) for fourth place on the all-time wins list.
