SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Naquil Jones scored a career-high 24 points and the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat Millersville University, 73-56, Saturday afternoon at Morrow Field House.
Slippery Rock improves to 6-4 overall and 3-2 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference competition with the win, its third in as many games. Millersville drops to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in league games with the loss.
Jones, who played all 40 minutes, went 7-for-12 from the field overall and was a stellar 3-for-4 from 3-point range and 7-for-7 at the foul line in the win. Additionally, Jones passed out a game-high nine assists and grabbed seven rebounds, coming up just shy of his first triple-double.
Jordan Marrow came off the bench to score 11 points while
Christal Malalu produced a double-double of 10 points and 17 rebounds to go with three blocks in a dominating performance in the paint. The double-double is the second for Malalu of the season.
Khyree Wooten chipped in seven points with
Guilherme Verardo also adding six points and nine rebounds to round out The Rock's top performers.
After a disappointing first half in which it shot just 37 percent (10-of-27) from the field, Slippery Rock regrouped to shoot an extremely efficient 53.6 percent (15-of-28) and 88.9 percent (8-of-9) at the free throw line in the second half. For the game, Slippery Rock shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) from the field, 50 percent (6-of-12) from 3-point distance and 73.9 percent (17-of-23) at the foul line. The Rock's six made 3-pointers were a season-high.
Slippery Rock more than doubled Millersville in rebounds, 50-24, to conclude the game with a +26 rebounding margin. SRU grabbed 14 offensive rebounds which it converted into nine points and held advantages over Millersville in points in the paint (28-18), points off turnovers (11-9), bench scoring (21-9) and blocks (9-1).
After being outscored by Millersville 39-30 in the first half, Slippery Rock closed strong by holding a 43-17 advantage in the second half en route to the double-digit win.
Millersville shot 30.2 percent (16-of-53) from the field, but was 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from 3-point territory and 77.3 percent (17-of-22) at the free throw line. Conrad Chambers scored 17 points for Millersville in the defeat. Marcus Adkinson, who entered the game ranked third in the PSAC in scoring, was held to just five points over 25 minutes.
The difference in the first half was Millersville's 3-point shooting. The Marauders connected on six of its eight attempts from long distance to take a 39-30 lead over The Rock into halftime.
Slippery Rock fought back from deficits of 11 and 13 points in the opening 20 minutes, but every time SRU appeared poised to take its first lead of the game the Marauders would fend off The Rock by making another 3-pointer.
After not leading for the entire first half, Slippery Rock came out of the break on fire, outscoring Millersville 21-6 over the opening 10 minutes of the second half to take a 51-45 lead over the Marauders. Slippery Rock cemented the victory over the following six minutes with a 10-2 run that gave The Rock a commanding 61-47 lead that it would never come close to relinquishing in the eventual 17-point victory.
SRU's 43 second-half points marked the second highest scoring output in the final 20 minutes of a game this season, The Rock scored 44 points in the second of its win against the District of Columbia earlier in the year.
Slippery Rock returns to action Dec. 18 in a non-conference game at Roberts Wesleyan College.
