ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team exploded for 47 points in the second half to earn a 64-54 victory on the road at first place Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action Wednesday night.
 
The victory was the first for The Rock at Mercyhurst since the PSAC playoffs in 2011 as the Lakers had won the last five home games in the series. The victory also snapped an eight-game winning streak for Mercyhurst, which hadn't lost since Dec. 16 at Slippery Rock.
 
The win improves SRU to 11-10 overall and 6-9 in PSAC action and could provide a big boost in the playoff picture in the event of any tiebreakers as The Rock owns two wins over the Lakers. Mercyhurst drops to 14-5 overall and 11-4 in PSAC games with the loss.
 
Both teams struggled out of the gates and endured one of their worst performances in recent years over the opening 20 minutes. Both shot less than 30 percent and Slippery Rock came away with a 17-16 lead at halftime.
 
The struggles continued in the second half for Mercyhurst, which would never get above 30 percent shooting in the game, but not for The Rock. The visitors offense exploded to the tune of 47 points as SRU shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) from the field over the final 20 minutes. Included in the hot-shooting effort of the second half was a perfect showing (4-for-4) from 3-point and a 17-of-19 effort at the free throw line.
 
Malcolm Richardson finished with a game-high 25 points to lead Slippery Rock. Abdul King added a career-high 14 points to mark his third straight game reaching a career-high. He also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
 
Chaquille Pratt and Jamal Gatali each scored eight points, Erik Raleigh chipped in six points and three blocks off the bench and Cornelius Brown scored three points.
 
The Rock finished the game shooting 42.6 percent from the field (20-of-47), 66.7 percent from 3-point (6-of-9) and 85.7 percent from the free throw line (18-of-21). SRU posted a 37-31 edge in rebounding.
 
Mercyhurst shot 27.8 percent from the field (15-of-54), 33.3 percent from 3-point (6-of-18) and 66.7 percent from the free throw line (18-of-27).
 
Damon Jones led the Lakers with 15 points and Kayode Ajenifuja added 10 points.
 
Slippery Rock remains in a tie for sixth place in the PSAC West standings with seven games left in the regular season, but The Rock are now just one game back of Clarion for fifth place and only two games out of fourth place. The top six teams in the division will qualify for the PSAC playoffs.
 
Slippery Rock is the one team in the PSAC West that will receive a bye this Saturday and will return to action at home against Edinboro next Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. The game against the second place Fighting Scots will serve as the annual White Out game. Official White Out t-shirts are on sale now at the SGA Bookstore for just $5.