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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team outscored Shippensburg 22-4 in the final eight minutes to pull away for an 80-62 win over the Raiders in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action Wednesday night at Morrow Field House.
 
Shippensburg led for nearly the entire first half after shooting 60.9 percent in the opening 20 minutes, but Slippery Rock weathered that storm and battled back to lead 39-37 at halftime on a layup from Jamal Gatali at the buzzer.
 
The Rock flexed their muscle in the second half, holding Shippensburg to just 30 percent shooting and keeping the Raiders from scoring a single field goal for the final eight minutes of the game as the host pulled away for their fourth consecutive win.
 
The victory improves Slippery Rock to 8-2 overall and 4-1 in PSAC action. Shippensburg drops to 5-4 overall and 1-4 in league games.
 
Antonio Butler and Kelvin Goodwin led the way for The Rock, with Butler finishing with a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds and Goodwin adding 16 points and four assists, including four straight points midway through the second half that sparked the finishing run.
 
Gatali finished two points shy of a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds. He also blocked two shots and recorded three steals. Cornelius Brown added nine points and six rebounds and Malcolm Richardson chipped in eight points.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game shooting 42.3 percent from the field (30-of-71), 25 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (4-of-16) and 69.6 percent from the free throw line (16-of-23).
 
Shippensburg finished the game shooting 43.4 percent from the field (23-of-53) after going 14-of-23 in the first half. The Raiders were 25 percent from 3-point (4-of-16) and 63.2 percent at the free throw line (12-of-19).
 
Slippery Rock finished with a +12 advantage in rebounding at 45-33 and turned the ball over just seven times, while forcing twice as many turnovers from Shippensburg (14).
 
The Raiders were led by Dylan Edgar with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. Edgar was 5-of-6 from the field in the first half and 5-of-12 in the second half. Justin McCarthur added 16 points and Sam Pygatt chipped in nine points.
 
Shippensburg scored the opening points and built up a 17-8 lead seven minutes into the game. Slippery Rock battled back to tie the game on four separate occasions but wouldn't lead in the game until a jumper from Chaquille Pratt gave The Rock a 34-33 lead with 2:51 to play in the opening period.
 
The game was tied two more times after that for a total of seven ties in the first half before Gatali's last second layup after an offensive rebound gave SRU the 39-37 edge at the break.
 
Slippery Rock opened the second half with a 6-2 run to push the lead out to 45-39, but Shippensburg responded after a timeout and put together a 10-0 run to regain the lead 49-45 with 15:05 to play.
 
The Rock answered with the first of two decisive second half runs, putting together a 15-2 stretch to take a 60-51 lead with 9:17 to play.
 
The Raiders wouldn't go away and came back with a 7-2 spurt to make it 62-58 with eight minutes to play, but that bucket from McCarthur at the 8:00 mark would be the final made field goal of the game for the visitors.
 
Slippery Rock reeled off an 11-2 run to make it 73-60 with 2:44 to play and closed the game with a total run of 22-4 to secure the win.
 
Wednesday's game marked the final PSAC home game of the 2014 calendar year for Slippery Rock, which will travel to Kutztown Saturday for a 3 p.m. crossover game. The Rock then closes the 2014 portion of the schedule at home on New Year's Eve against Ohio University Eastern before opening the 2015 portion of the schedule with road crossovers at Mansfield and Lock Haven Jan. 3-4.