FAIRMONT, W. Va. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team erased a 15-point first-half deficit to take a one-point lead with 37 seconds remaining in regulation, but Fairmont State University was ultimately able to hold off SRU's comeback bid and escape with an 82-79 win.
 
Saturday's game concluded a full weekend of basketball at the Joe Retton Classic in Fairmont, West Virginia. Slippery Rock (0-2) lost both of its games at the Classic by a total of just five points.
 
Fairmont State (2-2) appeared poised to bust the game open in the first half as the Falcons led by as many as 15 points with one minute remaining in the opening 20 minutes before taking a seemingly safe 45-33 edge into halftime.
 
Slippery Rock persevered and methodically chipped away at the Falcons' lead in the second half. Propelled by five 3-pointers, three of which came from Jared Armstrong, through the opening 12 minutes of the second half, Slippery Rock finally found itself leading FSU 66-63 with 7:58 left in regulation.
 
The Rock and Falcons proceeded to trade the lead back-and-forth seven times over the following five minutes with Fairmont State coming out of the action packed stretch clinging to a 73-72 lead with 2:58 showing on the clock.
 
Undeterred, SRU continued to battle and rattled off a 5-0 run courtesy of yet another 3-pointer by Armstrong as well as a pair of free throws by Nolen Gerald to put The Rock back on top of Fairmont State 77-73 with 1:47 left to play.
 
Fairmont State responded with a 5-0 run of its own to retake the lead at 78-77 only for Gerald to once again give The Rock a slight 79-78 edge via a layup at the 0:51 mark of the second half.
 
However, SRU's comeback victory was not to be as Fairmont State scored on the ensuing possession, held The Rock without a score on SRU's next offensive set and made two free throws with seven seconds to play en route to the three-point win.
 
In all, Saturday's game featured 13 lead changes.
 
Armstrong led five Rock players in double figures with a team-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting overall, a 4-of-6 mark from 3-point territory and a perfect 2-of-2 showing from the foul line. Armstrong also dished out four assists and made three steals in 26 minutes off the bench.
 
Micah Till added 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Nik Cazacu chipped in 11 points and five offensive rebounds while the duo of Gerald and Julius Palmer scored 10 points each with Gerald also corralling five rebounds. Vinny Lasley came off the bench to chip in five points and three rebounds as well.
 
Slippery Rock shot 47.7 percent (31-for-65) from the field overall, 34.8 percent (8-for-23) from 3-point range and 90 percent (9-for-10) from the foul line.
 
Fairmont State benefited from shooting 14 more foul shots than The Rock, finishing 17-for-24 from the charity stripe while also going 27-for-54 (50 percent) from the field overall and 11-of-26 from 3-point range (42.3 percent).
 
For the game, Slippery Rock held advantages over FSU in rebounds (33-29), points off turnovers (17-14), points in the paint (36-30) and second chance points (22-16). Both teams committed 13 turnovers.
 
Jason Jolly scored 27 points to lead Fairmont State to the win.
 
Slippery Rock will host Carlow University 7 p.m. Wednesday at Morrow Field House in what will be SRU's 2018-19 home opener.
 
 
 
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