New/Sortable Box Score |
Traditional boxscore (HTML)
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University never trailed in the first half, but then never led in the final half of Wednesday night's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division men's basketball in Morrow Field House and dropped a 68-61 decision to visiting Gannon University.
The loss snapped a six-game win streak for SRU, which saw its season records fall to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in PSAC-West action.
The win streak was the longest by a Green and White team since the 2009-10 team opened their season with 10 consecutive wins.
Gannon improved its season records to 3-2 overall, 2-1 in PSAC-West action.
SRU's day/night difference in offensive production was reflected in the final statistics.
The Rock made 48% (11 of 23) of their field goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes of action but hit only 23% (6 of 26) in the final half to finish the game with a 35% efficiency.
SRU was 2 of 7 (29%) from 3-point range in the first half and 2 of 14 (14%) in the second half, while making 17 of 20 (85%) free throws in the final 20 minutes after sinking 6 of 9 attempts in the first half.
Gannon maintained a consistent shooting effort throughout the game, hitting 39% (11 of 28) action shots in the first half and 45% (13 of 29) in the second half.
The Golden Knights made one of six (17%) shots from 3-point range in the first half, two of seven (29%) attempts in the second half to finish with a 23% efficiency.
The guests were seven of nine (78%) from the foul line in the first half, 10 of 13 (77%) in the second half and 77% for the game.
Gannon was the first team to outrebound The Rock this season as the Golden Knights had a 40-30 advantage on the backboards.
Each team committed 12 turnovers with Gannon converting Rock mistakes into 18 points and The Rock turning Gannon miscues into 13 points.
Gannon also outscored The Rock by a 26-22 margin in the paint and by a 16-13 margin in second-chance points.
The main thorn in The Rock's side was Gannon's all-conference guard, Adam Blazek, who scored a game-high 26 points in the game, 17 of which came in the second half. Rogerio Livramento added 17 points for the Golden Knights.
Junior guard
Matej Delinac scored a team-high 18 points in a substitute role for The Rock, while senior center
Maurice Lewis-Briggs and junior forward
Kelvin Dixon each scored 10 points.
Senior forward
Tabari Perry took game honors in rebounds with seven and chipped in nine points, seven of which came in the first 100 seconds of action.
Perry's 3-point shot gave The Rock the first lead of the game and started an opening run that saw the hosts hold a 17-6 lead with 13:15 left to play in the first half.
Gannon gradually cut the deficit down in the final minutes of the opening stanza and had pulled even, 30-30, at the intermission.
The Golden Knights scored 12 of the first 16 second-half points to take a 42-34 lead with 14:30 left to play and continued to seemingly pull away.
The guests held their largest lead of the game, an 18-point, 55-37, advantage with 8:30 remaining and were up by 16 points (9-43) with five minutes left before The Rock mounted a valiant comeback effort.
SRU trimmed the deficit to four points, 65-61, with 30 seconds left to play but was unable to score any more points before the final horn.
The Rock will look to regain their winning ways Saturday when they visit division rival Pitt-Johnstown for a 3 p.m. game.
Two nights later, The Rock host Penn State New Kensington in a 7 p.m. non-conference game before taking a break for fall semester final examinations.
Notes: Wednesday's loss, in addition to snapping a string of six consecutive wins by this year's Rock squad, ended a 13-game home win streak for SRU. The Rock had won 15 of their last 16 home games and 16 of 18 home games played since the start of the 2011-12 season … Delinac, a transfer from Marshalltown Community College in Iowa, established a new season-high scoring mark Wednesday night, bettering a 14-point effort he had Nov. 24 vs. Ohio University Eastern.
