Game Highlights

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team used a smothering defensive effort in the second half to turn a 39-31 halftime deficit into a 78-64 victory over West Chester University Saturday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover game at Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock picked up their first win over a Division II opponent this year and improve to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in PSAC play with the victory. West Chester drops to 6-4 overall and 2-1 in PSAC games.
 
The Golden Rams capitalized on eight first half turnovers by SRU and turned those miscues into 13 points in jumping out to a 39-31 lead at the break. The Rock never led in the first 30 minutes, but opened the second half with a 21-10 run to take its first lead of the game when Nik Cazacu made a 3-pointer to make it 52-49 with 9:55 to play. SRU would never trail after that.
 
West Chester tied it at 52-52 with 7:28 to play, but SRU responded with an 18-8 run and made its final 12 free throw attempts inside the last four minutes to put the game away.  
 
Slippery Rock scored half of its points on field goals with shots from beyond the 3-point line, going 10-of-36 (27.8 percent) to account for 30 points. The Rock were 15-of-30 on two-point shots to finish the game shooting 37.9 percent from the field (26-of-66). SRU put together one of its best free throw shooting performances of the season, going 18-of-21 for an 85.7 percent efficiency and finished the game with a 45-42 edge in total rebounds.
 
West Chester scored 18 points in the first 18 minutes of the second half before tallying seven points in the final two minutes. The Golden Rams shot 48.4 percent in the first half before being held to just 21.2 percent in the second half to finish at 34.4 percent from the field (22-of-64). WCU was 21.7 percent from 3-point (5-of-23) and 71.4 percent at the free throw line (15-of-21).
 
Micah Till led The Rock with a game-high double-double of 25 points and 14 rebounds. His final line included a 12-of-13 effort from the free throw line, a game-high five offensive rebounds and three blocked shots.
 
Jared Armstrong added 19 points off the bench and John Warren II scored 10 points and handed out seven assists to give SRU three players in double figures. Amante Britt chipped in eight points, Vinny Lasley scored six points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Nolen Gerald scored four points and handed out four assists.
 
West Chester was led by Malik Jackson and Jackson Hyland with 17 points each and Frank Rokins with 14 points.
 
Slippery Rock will take next week off for finals before returning to action with three games over a five-day stretch from Dec. 15-19. The Rock will travel to Salem University Dec. 15 before hosting Lock Haven Dec. 18 and Bloomsburg Dec. 19.
 
 
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