SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – Khyree Wooten knocked down a 16-foot jumper with 3.6 seconds left to lift the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a 57-55 win at Shepherd University Saturday night in non-conference action.
 
The victory is the first of the season for The Rock and improves the team to 1-1 overall. Shepherd drops to 1-1 with the loss in what was the final game of a four-game tournament this weekend in the PSAC-MEC Challenge.
 
Slippery Rock led by five points, 55-50, with 4:18 to play before going cold from the floor. Shepherd battled back with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 55-55 with just 23 seconds to play, setting up the finish.
 
After a missed free throw by the Rams, Slippery Rock called timeout with 17 seconds left. Out of the timeout, Wooten never passed the ball and pulled up from just outside the free throw line to end a scoring drought of 4:15 and net the winning points.
 
Wooten finished the game with a team-high 15 points to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Naquil Jones chipped in 11 points and George Chase scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Merdic Green added eight points and Amir Maddred scored six points and pulled down nine rebounds.
 
Slippery Rock finished the night shooting 40.4 percent from the field (21-of-52), 16.7 percent from 3-point (2-of-12) and 72.2 percent at the free throw line (13-of-18). The Rock turned the ball over 25 times Friday night in a loss to Wheeling Jesuit, but cleaned things up significantly Saturday and finished with just 10 turnovers. SRU also managed a 39-31 edge in total rebounds.
 
Shepherd was held to just 29.8 percent shooting from the field (14-of-47) and 29.4 percent from 3-point (5-of-17), but scored 22 points from the free throw line in a 22-of-32 effort at the charity stripe (68.8 percent).
 
The Rams were paced by Steffen Davis and Naim Muhammad with 17 points each.
 
The teams traded momentum in the opening half and took the game to the break with SRU leading 25-23 before Shepherd put together a run early in the second half to open up and eight-point lead, 42-34 with 10:45 to play.
 
Slippery Rock responded with a 16-3 run to take a 50-45 lead with 6:25 to play, setting up the finish.
 
The Rock will open the home portion of their schedule Tuesday night with a 7 p.m. tip against Ohio University Eastern at Morrow Field House.