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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – A strong start to the second half of action propelled the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a 79-66 victory Wednesday night over visiting Edinboro University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action at Morrow Field House.
With the win, the Green and White moved one win away from assuring themselves of a home conference tournament game.
Wednesday's win improved SRU's season records to 18-8 overall and 9-5 in division action. The Rock are alone in fourth place in the PSAC-West standings, two games ahead of fifth-place Seton Hill with two regular-season games left to play.
The Rock visit Seton Hill (15-9, 7-7) for a 3 p.m. game Saturday and, with a win, would earn the right to, at worst, host a first-round playoff game March 1. SRU could ultimately finish as high as second in the division standings.
The top two teams in the final division standings earn first-round byes in the conference tournament and host quarterfinal games March 4, while the third- and fourth-place teams in the final division standings host first-round games.
The last thing on The Rock's collective minds at halftime of Wednesday's game vs. Edinboro (9-15, 2-12), the last-place team in the nine-team division, was the possibility of hosting a playoff game as the Fighting Scots held a 40-35 lead at the intermission of a fiercely-contested opening 20 minutes of action.
The Rock, after scoring the first three points of the game, wound up trailing for virtually the entire first half. SRU was down by double digits on three separate occasions in the first stanza.
But a 23-7 Rock run in the first eight and a half minutes of the second half turned the tide in favor of the hosts, and they never looked back.
Aiding considerably in The Rock run, which gave SRU a 58-47 lead with 11:15 left to play, was an icy-cold, 1-for-15 (13%) shooting effort by Edinboro.
The Rock never led by less than six points in the final 11 minutes and held their largest lead of the night, 78-62, with 1:15 left to play.
Senior frontline players
Maurice Lewis-Briggs and
Tabari Perry (right photo) and redshirt junior guard
Antonio Butler led The Rock's second-half effort. After combining for 15 first-half points, the trio scored 34 of SRU's 44 second-half tallies.
Butler and Perry (6 rebounds) shared team-high scoring honors with 17 points each after scoring four and seven points, respectively, in the first half. Lewis-Briggs finished with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds with 11 of his points coming after halftime.
Senior point guard
Josh Martin scored 10 points in the game to round out a balanced, four-players-in-double-figures scoring effort.
Bryan Theriot took game-high scoring honors with 21 points for Edinboro, which saw its season records fall to 9-15 overall and 2-12 in PSAC-W action. Theriot also snared a team-high six rebounds.
Henri Wade-Chatman chipped in 17 points and Jonny Marsh contributed 12 points for the Fighting Scots.
The Rock, after hitting 31% (9 of 29) of their action shots in the opening 20 minutes, made 57% (16 of 28) of their field-goal attempts in the final half to finish the game with a 44% efficiency.
SRU made seven of 14 shots from beyond the 3-point arc and canned 22 of 28 (79%) of its free throws.
Edinboro made 45% (13 of 29) of its first-half field goal tries before cooling off to a 31% (9 of 29) effort in the second half to finish the game with a 38% efficiency. The Scots made five of 16 (31%) shots from long range and 17 of 25 (68%) free throws.
The Rock had a 43-32 rebounding advantage, but were on the high end of a 14-12 turnover comparison, which Edinboro converted into an 18-8 points-off-turnovers advantage.
Led by Butler's 17 points, SRU outscored Edinboro by a 30-9 margin "off the bench" and also had a 34-30 edge in scoring "in the paint."
Home finale in one week: After making their final regular-season road trip of the season Saturday to Greensburg, The Rock close out their regular-season home schedule next Wednesday with an 8 p.m. duel against defending conference champion Indiana (Pa.). That will be Senior Night and White Out Night at Morrow Field House. Special White Out Night t-shirts are on sale at the SGA Bookstore in the Robert M. Smith Student Center.
Division standings: Gannon (17-8, 12-3) remained alone atop the division standings with a 71-54 win Wednesday night over Clarion.
Indiana (21-3, 11-3) took over sole possession of second place in the PSAC-West standings with a 74-66 win Wednesday night over Mercyhurst (14-10, 10-4) that dropped the Lakers into sole possession of third place.
12 times 4: Wednesday's game marked the 12th time in 26 games this winter The Rock had four players finish with double-digit scoring totals.
