JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team saw its season come to an end Wednesday night with an 80-65 loss on the road at Pitt-Johnstown.
 
The Rock needed a victory to qualify for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs for the sixth consecutive year, but couldn't overcome the hot-shooting hosts. Slippery Rock finishes the season at 15-13 overall for its eighth consecutive season with at least 15 wins. The Rock have averaged 19 wins over the last eight years, all under head coach Kevin Reynolds.
 
Pitt-Johnstown improves to 17-10 overall and will continue its season in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament Saturday.
 
Slippery Rock played a strong game on both ends of the floor but couldn't compete with Pitt-Johnstown's long range shooting. The Mountain Cats made 12 3-pointers in the game and finished at 60 percent from deep (12-of-20), shooting better from long range with a hand in their face than from inside the arc (15-of-31) on the night.
 
The game was close for most of the first half before the hosts put together a 14-0 run near the end of the period to open the game up. Slippery Rock was forced to play catch-up from there, but could never eat into the deficit as Pitt-Johnstown went 6-of-9 from 3-point and 11-14 from the free throw line in the second half.
 
Cornelius Brown closed his career by nearly becoming the first SRU player in more than 10 years to record a triple-double. He finished with 18 points, a career-high nine assists and eight rebounds while being double teamed all night.

Abdul King closed his career by knocking down a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Jamal Gatali finished his career by scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds. Erik Raleigh closed his SRU career with eight points as those four seniors shouldered the load Wednesday night.
 
Slippery Rock shot a respectable 46.2 percent from the field (24-of-52), 44.4 percent from 3-point (4-of-9) and 81.3 percent at the free throw line (13-of-16).
 
Pitt-Johnstown finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the field (27-of-51), 60 percent from 3-point (12-of-20) and 73.7 percent at the free throw line (14-of-19).
 
AJ Leahey led the Mountain Cats with 20 points, including four 3-pointers, and eight rebounds. Nate Snodgrass finished with 19 points and six assists.
 
Wednesday night's game also marked the end of the careers for SRU seniors Malcolm Richardson, Jordan Grady and Maxx Rynd. The Rock won 76 games over the last four years and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament twice, including making an appearance in the second round in 2015.