CHEYNEY, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team shot an amazing 62 percent from field and senior guard Jamal Gatali scored 18 points in an 80-53 victory at Cheyney University Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover play.
 
The win pushes The Rock's record to 5-4 overall on the season and 2-3 in league play. Cheyney falls to 1-6 on the year overall and 0-5 in conference competition.
 
Slippery Rock went 31-for-50 from the field for its highest field goal percentage since also shooting 62 percent (31-for-50) against Shepherd University during the 2013-14 season. Additionally, Slippery Rock shot a healthy 46.7 percent (7-for-15) from 3-point range. Defensively, SRU held Cheyney to a 39.1 field goal percentage.
 
The Rock set the tone for a game they would never trail in early on with a dominant first half that saw SRU outscore the Wolves 41-16. Slippery Rock could hardly miss in the opening 20 minutes as evidenced by its 66.7 first half field goal percentage while limiting Cheyney to just six made shots in 22 attempts (27.3 percent) to start the game.
 
Cheyney played better in the second half, but it was much too late as Slippery Rock was content to trade baskets with the Wolves in the final 20 minutes of regulation en route to the 27-point victory, The Rock's largest win over a NCAA Division II team since it defeated Bloomsburg by 27 points Jan. 7, 2015.
 
Gatali, whose 18 points were one shy of his career-high, was one of three Rock players to score double digits. Senior guard Malcolm Richardson and senior center Cornelius Brown both added 14 points with Brown also grabbing seven rebounds.
 
Senior forward Jordan Grady added season-highs of nine points and four rebounds while junior guards Jordan Marrow and Juwan Strothers chipped in seven and six points, respectively. All 10 players that played for Slippery Rock Saturday scored points.
 
Senior guard Dontay Jackson passed out four assists and senior forward Erik Raleigh had two blocks as well to round out The Rock's top performers.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock held advantages over Cheyney in rebounds (34-20), turnovers (5-11), points off turnovers (14-8) and points in the paint (38-22). The last time SRU had less than five turnovers in a game was in its season-opener against Charleston a season ago.
 
Slippery Rock steps out of conference play to host Penn State-Allegheny 7 p.m. Monday at Morrow Field House.