SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with eighth-ranked Shippensburg University for the full 40 minutes Saturday afternoon, but had its upset bid fall just short in a 90-87 loss to the Raiders at Morrow Field House.
 
Saturday's game featured nine ties and 21 lead changes between the two evenly matched teams. Neither team led by more than six points for the duration of the contest. Slippery Rock's 87 points were its most in a game played at Morrow Field House against an NCAA Division II opponent since going for 88 points against Pitt-Johnstown on Feb. 8, 2014.
 
Slippery Rock led by four points, 80-76, with 4:12 to play before the Raiders scored five straight to take an 81-80 lead with 3:15 left in regulation. Slippery Rock and the Raiders proceeded to trade baskets over the next minute until a successful jumper by Micah Till gave SRU an 84-83 advantage with 2:19 showing on the scoreboard.
 
However, Shippensburg countered by scoring five of the next six points to retake the lead, 88-85, with just 12 seconds left to play. Slippery Rock briefly trimmed its deficit to one point thanks to a Bruce Spruell layup, but the Raiders proceeded to make two foul shots and a desperation 3-pointer by Till fell just short as Shippensburg escaped with a narrow three-point victory.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 2-1 on the season overall and 0-1 in league games. The nationally ranked Raiders improve to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
 
Slippery Rock shot a season-best 53 percent (35-for-66) from the field overall and made 10 more field goals than the Raiders, but Shippensburg converted 28-of-32 free throws while SRU had just 15 attempts from the foul line, nine of which it converted.
 
Five different players scored in double figures for The Rock with Till leading the way on a 22-point, eight-rebound, one-block showing in just 25 minutes of playing time. Spruell closed out the contest with 17 points and a team-high seven assists.
 
Till has scored at least 20 points in two of SRU's three games in 2017-18 and Spruell is averaging  20.5 points, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per contest over his last two outings.
 
Khyree Wooten converted 7-of-9 shot attempts, two of which were 3-pointers, on the way to 16 points while the duo of Aaron McDonald and Merdic Green scored 10 points each.
 
Simmons had eight points and Richard Bivens chipped in four points to round out The Rock's scorers. Christal Malalu came off the bench to grab seven rebounds. Malalu and Till combined for nine of The Rock's 16 offensive rebounds.
 
In addition to its best shooting performance of the year, Slippery Rock also held advantages over Shippensburg in offensive rebounds (16-10), total rebounds (32-28), blocks (4-0), points in the paint (40-32), second chance points (20-13), fast break points (8-0) and bench scoring (18-6).
 
Shippensburg was led by Dustin Sleva, who scored 32 points and grabbed five rebounds. Clay Conner dished out a game-high eight assists. The Raiders finished the night shooting 51 percent (26-for-51) from the field, 50 percent (10-for-20) from long range and 87.5 percent (28-for-32) from the free throw line.
 
For the game, Shippensburg held edges over The Rock in 3-pointers (10-8), steals (5-3) and points off turnovers (12-0). The Raiders committed nine turnovers, one fewer than The Rock's 10 miscues.
 
Slippery Rock will look to return to its winning ways with a victory at Morrow Field House 3 p.m. Sunday.


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