EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team dropped its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference opener by an 82-66 score Monday evening at East Stroudsburg University in a PSAC crossover game.
 
The Rock drop to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in PSAC play, while defending PSAC champion East Stroudsburg improves to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in PSAC games.
 
Slippery Rock led 17-16 with 12:40 to play in the first half before East Stroudsburg closed the period on a 23-12 run to lead 39-29 at the break. SRU committed 11 turnovers over the final 12:40 of the half to aid in the Warriors being able to extend the lead out to 10 points.
 
The Rock would never bring the margin inside of 10 points in the second half, as turnovers continued to disrupt the flow of the offense. Slippery Rock finished with a season-high 26 turnovers after entering the game averaging 12.8 turnovers on the year. The Warriors turned those miscues into 22 points on the other end.
 
East Stroudsburg shot 46.9 percent from the field (30-of-64), 30.4 percent from 3-point (7-of-23) and 75 percent at the free throw line (15-of-20). SRU outrebounded the Warriors by a 40-35 margin and finished the game shooting 41.4 percent from the floor (24-of-58), 37.5 percent from 3-point (6-of-16) and 57.1 percent from the free throw line (12-of-21).
 
John Warren II paced the offense with 13 points, while Julius Palmer finished with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Vinny Lasley added 11 points and seven rebounds, Jared Armstrong chipped in 11 points and Will Bounds scored eight points. Micah Till was limited to seven points and five rebounds and was held to just one made field goal.
 
East Stroudsburg was led by Josh Williams with 19 points and Jakwan Jones with 15 points.
 
Slippery Rock will look to get back in the win column when it welcomes another PSAC Eastern Division power this Saturday when West Chester visits Morrow Field House for a 3 p.m. game.


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