GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team put together a dominant second half that included a 33-2 run on the way to cruising to its eighth straight win, a 79-64 victory at Seton Hill University Saturday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action from the McKenna Center.
 
Seton Hill (4-7, 1-5 PSAC) shot 53.3 percent from the field in the first half and led by as many as eight points before The Rock (10-2, 4-2 PSAC) battled back to cut the halftime deficit to just three points at 36-33.
 
The Griffins opened the second half with a 10-4 run to extend the advantage to 46-37 with 15:58 to play, but Slippery Rock stormed back into the game and controlled the final 16 minutes. The Rock reeled off 23 unanswered points before Seton Hill stopped the bleeding with a layup with 8:13 to play, but SRU got right back on the gas and pushed the run out to 33-2 over a stretch of 10 minutes, which opened up a 70-48 lead with 6:02 to play.
 
Slippery Rock shot 42.9 percent in the second half and held Seton Hill to just nine made field goals in the final 20 minutes for a shooting percentage of 31.0 percent in the second half.
 
The Rock finished the game shooting 39.8 percent from the field (33-of-83), 21.4 percent from 3-point (3-of-14) and 50 percent at the free throw line (10-of-20). SRU was dominant on the glass, pulling down 54 total rebounds, including 25 offensive boards. Seton Hill managed 41 rebounds, but just seven on the offensive glass. The Griffins shot 42.4 percent for the game (25-of-59), 28.6 percent from 3-point (4-of-14) and 66.7 percent from the free throw line (10-of-15).
 
Micah Till led The Rock with his eighth double-double of the year with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Till also blocked two shots. Brandon Simmons also finished with a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards to go along with two blocks and one steal.
 
Merdic Green finished with 14 points and six boards and Tony Gates came off the bench to score 12 points. Bruce Spruell capped the top scorers with eight points and a game-high nine assists.
 
Seton Hill was led by Trevor Blondin with 22 points and eight rebounds. Nathan Davis added 15 points and Tyler Bowling scored 10 points.
 
Saturday's game marked the beginning of the home-and-home schedule in the PSAC Western Division as The Rock's first five conference games were crossovers against the PSAC East. SRU will play its first home game against a PSAC West opponent when Mercyhurst visits Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tip.
 

 
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