AMHERST, N.Y. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team lost on the road at Daemen College, 78-71, Saturday.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 1-4 on the season. Slippery Rock's four losses have come by a combined total of just 17 points (4.3 points per game). Daemen improved to 2-1 on the year with the win.
 
Slippery Rock trailed the Wildcats by nine points at halftime, 39-30, but came out of the break on a tear as it rattled off 13 straight points to take a 43-39 lead with 17:41 to play in regulation. Four different Rock players scored during the early second-half run.
 
SRU maintained its lead over the following four minutes, but Daemen eventually clawed its way back in front of The Rock by one point, 48-47, with 13:03 left in the second half.
 
Daemen went on to stretch its lead out to eight points through the proceeding eight minutes of action. Slippery Rock eventually trimmed its deficit down to only four points (65-61) in the game's final two minutes, but was unable to get any closer as DC pulled away down the stretch by making 11 of its final 14 free throw attempts on the way to the seven-point victory.
 
After a sluggish shooting performance to start the game, Slippery Rock made 42 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half to finish the game shooting 37 percent (27-for-73) from the field overall, including a 10-for-32 (31.3 percent) showing from 3-point range. SRU did make 87.5 percent (7-for-8) of its foul shots.
 
Defensively, SRU held Damen to a 40.7 percent (24-for-59) performance from the field overall, and a 35.7 percent (5-for-14) outing from deep. However, the Wildcats benefitted greatly form 30 free throw attempts, 25 of which were successful.
 
Both teams took care of the basketball remarkably well with Daemen committing 12 turnovers and The Rock making just 11 miscues. Daemen held a narrow 43-41 edge in rebounds.
 
Redshirt junior forward Micah Till and junior guard Jared Armstrong shouldered most of The Rock's offensive production Saturday. Till scored 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds, blocked three shots and made two steals while Armstrong came off the bench to score 20 points.
 
Freshman guard Nik Cazacu added nine points with senior forward Vinny Lasley, senior guard Nolen Gerald and freshman guard Amante Britt rounding out The Rock's top scorers.
 
Lasley and Gerald both scored six points while Britt added five. In addition to his scoring, Lasley also grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
 
Daemen was led by Andrew Sicho, who had 31 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks.
 
Slippery Rock returns home to host Ohio University Eastern 7 p.m. Nov. 27 at Morrow Field House. SRU is a perfect 13-0 all-time against Ohio Eastern in a series that started during the 2008-09 season. Since the inception of the series, Slippery Rock has averaged 110 points per game against OUE.
 
 
 
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