FAIRMONT, W. Va. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker in its season-opener against Notre Dame College Friday as the Falcons' Will Vorhees made a near buzzer-beater jumper with three seconds left in regulation to give NDC a two-point victory, 77-75.
 
Slippery Rock (0-1) trailed Notre Dame (1-0) for much of the second half, but The Rock tied the game at 66-66 with five minutes remaining in regulation thanks to an 8-0 run and from there the two teams traded baskets for the duration of the game.
 
Trailing, 75-73 with under a minute remaining, Slippery Rock appeared poised to force overtime when Jared Armstrong found Julius Palmer for an authoritative dunk that once again evened the score at 75-75 with 32 seconds left to play. However, on the ensuing possession Notre Dame ran down the clock down eventually leading to Vorhees' game-winning basket.
 
Notre Dame built leads of at least eight points on five different occasions Friday, but each time Slippery Rock responded to keep the contest from getting away from them by completely erasing the deficit. In all, there were 13 lead changes and nine ties between the two evenly-matched teams.
 
Preseason All-American Micah Till more than lived up to the hype with a great performance that saw the redshirt junior forward go for 31 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Till had a great shooting night, going 11-for-16 from the field overall, 4-7 from 3-point range in addition to converting five free throws.
 
Armstrong came off the bench to sink a trio of 3-pointers on the way to an 11-point outing. Palmer also gave The Rock a quality outing as a reserve with nine points and six rebounds.
 
Nolen Gerald added eight points and five rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass with John Warren II and Amante Britt rounding out The Rock's top offensive performers with six points apiece. Britt, a true freshman who made his first collegiate start Friday, also dished out four assists and made three steals.
 
While Slippery Rock's field goal percentages of 38 percent overall (27-for-71) and 28.1 percent (9-for-32) from long range were average at best, most of its shooting woes occurred in the opening 20 minutes; SRU was solid in the second half going 15-for-34 from the field overall (44.1 percent) and 5-for-12 (41.7 percent) from distance.
 
Slippery Rock forced Notre Dame into 16 turnovers while committing just nine miscues of its own. The Rock also held advantages over the Falcons in 3-pointers made (9-6), offensive rebounds (17-11), points off turnovers (21-9) and second chance points (24-13).
 
Notre Dame had an impressive night shooting, finishing 28-for-51 (54.9 percent) from the field overall and 46.2 percent (6-for-13) from 3-point territory. The Falcons, which out-rebounded The Rock 40-34, were led by Vorhees' 29-point, 14-rebound, six-assist performance.
 
Slippery Rock converted 12 of its 17 attempts at the foul line while Notre Dame went 15-for-24 from the free throw line.  
 
Friday's game was the first of two contests for The Rock this weekend at the Joe Retton Classic in Fairmont, West Virginia. SRU will close its opening weekend when it plays host Fairmont State 8 p.m. Saturday.
 
NOTES
• Slippery Rock's nine made 3-pointers on Friday were the fourth most in a single-game by SRU against a Division II team in its last 86 contests.
 
• Slippery Rock was just 5-for-19 in the first 10 minutes of regulation against Notre Dame, but went 22-for-52 (42.3 percent) from the field over the game's final 30 minutes.  
 
• Till finished just one point off of tying his career-high of 32 set last season at Bloomsburg University. The big night vaulted him from No. 55 on The Rock's all-time scoring list to No. 49.  
 
• Playing in his first game for The Rock in over a year, Vinny Lasley started and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out.
 
• Britt is the first true freshman to start a game for Slippery Rock since Chaquille Pratt started two games in 2011-12.  
 
 
 
 
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