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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Senior forward
Gerald Brooks came off the bench to score a team-high 21 points Wednesday night and lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a 85-75 win over visiting Cheyney University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference “crossover” action in Morrow Field House.
Brooks led a group of four Rock players who had double-figure scoring efforts in the game as SRU rebounded from a 56-53 home loss to West Chester one night earlier and remained tied for the PSAC-Western Division lead.
The Rock, who with Wednesday's win improved their season records to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in PSAC action, share the top spot in the eight-team division with 16th-ranked and three-time defending division champion Indiana (Pa.).
With the loss to SRU, Cheyney, which handed Indiana (8-1, 4-1) its only loss Dec. 1 (64-60), saw its season records fall to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in conference action.
Senior guard
Darious Clark (pictured) contributed 15 points and six rebounds to The Rock's effort. He did so in the same off-the-bench fashion as Brooks (5 rebounds). Junior guard
Tabari Perry and senior forward
Devin Taylor each added 13 points for SRU.
Taylor and senior center
Luiz Santos shared team-high rebounding honors with seven each and also blocked a pair of shots each.
Jason Sabb tied Brooks for game-scoring honors with 21 points in the losing cause. Brandon Norfleet had 18 points, Clayton Brown added 16 points and game-high eight rebounds and Jayvon Beaty chipped in 11 points for the Wolves.
The Rock finished the game with a 48% (24-50) efficiency on its field-goal attempts, hit a scorching 67% (8-12) of their 3-point attempts and sank 81% (29-36) of their free-throw attempts.
SRU also enjoyed a 41-32 rebounding advantage, the seventh time in eight games this winter the Green and White won the backboard battle, but committed season-high 23 turnovers.
Cheyney converted The Rock miscues into 27 points, while SRU turned 12 Wolves turnovers into 12 points.
On the strength of the 1-2 punch of Brooks and Clark, SRU outscored Cheyney by a 38-4 in “bench points.”
Cheyney shot 37% (25-68) from the field, 27% (6-22) from 3-point range and 76% (19-25) from the foul line.
SRU scored the first nine points of the game and never trailed thereafter, although Cheyney did answer the initial Rock run with an 11-2 run of its own to tie the score at 11-11 with 10:47 left to play in the first half.
The Rock scored 28 of the final 39 points in the first half, though, to take a 17-point, 39-22, advantage into halftime.
The hosts widened their lead to 26 points, 54-28, with 15 minutes left to play in the game before Cheyney clawed its way back. The Wolves narrowed the margin to eight points, 79-71, with 45 seconds left to play before SRU closed out the win.
The Rock are now idle until Dec. 30, when they will host Ohio University Eastern in a 3 p.m. game in Morrow Field House. That will be the third and final game of SRU's current homestand and will conclude the 2012 portion of the Green and White's schedule.
Notes:
The Rock's point total Wednesday night was its highest of the season, bettering by one the 84-point winning effort Dec. 1 at Bloomsburg, and came one night after the Green and White had their lowest offensive output of the campaign (53 points) vs. West Chester … Wednesday's game was the second in which Brooks played for The Rock. A three-time All-PSAC-West performer at Indiana from 2006-09 and 2012 Basketball Times Preseason All-Americas selection, Brooks sat out the first six games to fulfill transfer eligibility requirements … Wednesday's game marked the fourth time this winter a Rock player scored 20 or more points. Clark scored 21 and 20 points in back-to-back games Nov. 19 (win over La Roche) and Nov. 24 (loss at Lake Erie) and Perry produced 24 points in SRU's Dec. 1 win at Bloomsburg … Wednesday's game was only the second time in eight games this winter no Rock player had 10 or more rebounds in a game.
