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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team finished the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover portion of its schedule with a convincing 82-55 win over Bloomsburg University Wednesday night at Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock improved to 12-3 overall and 7-2 in PSAC games with their second win in a row. Bloomsburg dropped its seventh straight game to fall to 6-7 overall and 2-7 in league games.
 
Wednesday night's game marked the final PSAC crossover game of the season for Slippery Rock, which will move into the traditional Western Division home and home portion of the schedule beginning this Saturday with a road game at Mercyhurst.
 
The game was close for the opening five minutes as each team traded baskets until it was 10-10 with 16:34 to play in the first half. From there, it was all Slippery Rock. The Rock put together a 13-0 run to open up a 23-10 lead and closed the first half on a 33-12 run to lead 43-22 at the break.
 
Slippery Rock's advantage grew to more than 30 points for most of the second half, reaching a game-high 38 points with 6:23 to play. With the subs on the floor for both teams, Bloomsburg closed the game on an 18-7 run to account for the final 82-55 score.
 
Antonio Butler continued his outstanding play that saw him score 43 points in two games last weekend by matching his career-high with 25 points to lead all scorers. Over his last three games, Butler has scored 68 points and is averaging 22.7 points per game.
 
Slippery Rock also got 13 points and eight rebounds from Frank Holloway and 12 points and seven assists from Kelvin Goodwin. Cornelius Brown added eight points and five rebounds and Chaquille Pratt chipped in five points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
The Rock entered the game as the top rebounding team in the nation, with a higher total number of rebounds and a better rebounding margin than any NCAA Division I, II or III team in the country. That trend continued Wednesday night as Slippery Rock pulled down more than 50 rebounds in a single game for the seventh time this season and posted a 55-28 (+27) advantage on the glass. The Rock recorded more than 20 offensive rebounds for the eighth time this year and scored 23 second chance points off 22 offensive boards.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game shooting 39.7 percent from the field (28-of-71), 44 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (11-of-25) and 78.9 percent from the free throw line (15-of-19).
 
Bloomsburg shot just 36.7 percent from the field, connecting on 18-of-49 attempts. The Rock improved to 12-0 this season when holding opponents below 45 percent shooting. The Huskies shot 36.8 percent from 3-point (7-of-19) and 54.5 percent from the free throw line (12-of-22).
 
Bloomsburg was led by 14 points from Alssene Saintilus, who was the only player in double figures for the Huskies and scored nearly half of the starting five's 29 total points. Ashkan Naderi added nine points off the bench.
 
Wedneday's win improves Slippery Rock to 5-1 against Bloomsburg since the beginning of the 2008-09 season when Kevin Reynolds, a 1991 graduate of Bloomsburg, took over as The Rock's head coach.
 
Division play in the PSAC Western Division resumes Saturday when Slippery Rock visits Mercyhurst for a 3 p.m. tip. The rest of the schedule figures to be more challenging for The Rock and their divisional foes, as the PSAC West has eight of its nine teams with at least .500 records after Wednesday night's games.
 
The PSAC Western Division went 7-2 against the Eastern Division Wednesday night and finished the six rounds of crossover games with a 36-18 record. Only two teams in the PSAC East own overall records of .500 or better and both of those division leaders, East Stroudsburg and Kutztown, were beaten by their Western Division opponents Wednesday.