SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team guaranteed itself of a home playoff game in the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs with a convincing 89-63 win over the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Saturday in a Senior Day game at Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock honored their five senior players and three managers in a pregame ceremony before using a dominant second half performance to run away from Pitt-Johnstown for the win. Slippery Rock improves to 20-7 overall and 14-7 in PSAC games with the victory and is now assured of a finish no lower than fourth in the PSAC West standings. Pitt-Johnstown dropped to 14-11 overall and 12-9 in PSAC games with the loss and is now locked into the No. 5 seed in the PSAC tournament (more on playoff scenarios below).
 
Four of The Rock's five seniors that were honored before the game played a significant role in the outcome, including guards Khyree Wooten and Merdic Green, who combined for 30 points. Green finished with 16 points to finish his week with 42 points in two games, while Wooten added 14 points. Christal Malalu scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds and Tony Gates added four points off the bench.

While the day was all about celebrating the seniors in their final regular season home game, the top contributors were underclassmen. Micah Till finished the day with his 19th double-double of the season with game-highs of 22 points and 17 rebounds. Till moved up to seventh on the SRU single-season scoring ledger and now has 575 points on the year, needing just 25 more to become the fifth player in program history to record 600 points in a season. He also climbed to second in single-season rebounds at SRU with 326 and is now just eight rebounds shy of the SRU single-season record of 334, set by Connie Palumbo during the 1956-57 season. He also blocked three shots, had two steals and handed out two assists.
 
Fellow forward Brandon Simmons tallied 17 points, pulled down eight rebounds, had three steals and blocked four shots to extend his SRU single-season record to 73 blocks.
 
Bruce Spruell finished the day with eight points and a career-high 12 assists, becoming the first SRU player to record 10 or more assists in a single-game since Jon Valeriano had 10 against Clarion on Jan. 12, 2011. The last Rock player to record at least 12 assists in a game was Kyle Camper, who had 12 against Indiana (Pa.) in the second to last game of the 2008-09 season, a year in which Camper led all levels of college basketball with 305 total assists.
 
The Rock were dominant on both ends of the floor Saturday, shooting a season-best 56.9 percent from the field (37-of-65) and holding Pitt-Johnstown to just 37.1 percent (23-of-62). The Mountain Cats entered the day as the second-best shooting team in the PSAC, averaging 48.7 percent from the field. SRU also held UPJ to just 16.7 percent from 3-point (3-of-18), while shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-15) itself.  
 
Slippery Rock posted a +19 rebounding margin at 46-27 and outscored Pitt-Johnstown 56-28 in the paint and 22-4 in fast break points.
 
The Mountain Cats were paced by Dale Clancy with 18 points. Isaac Vescovi added 13 points and seven rebounds and Josh Wise scored 12 points, including 10 in the second half.
 
Slippery Rock will have its PSAC mandated bye Wednesday before closing the regular season next Saturday with a 3 p.m. game at Gannon.
 

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
Slippery Rock can finish anywhere between the No. 2 and No. 4 seed in the PSAC West, depending on how the results of the final week of the regular season play out. A likely scenario could be that the winner of next Saturday's game between Gannon and Slippery Rock in Erie could decide the second seed and the first round bye that comes with it. SRU does not play on Wednesday, while all of the other teams in the PSAC West will be in action, so The Rock will know the exact scenario Wednesday night. In the event of a three-way tie between Gannon, Slippery Rock and Edinboro (if all get to 15-7 in PSAC games), SRU would be the No. 2 seed, followed by Gannon at No. 3 and Edinboro at No. 4.
 

SENIOR DAY
Slippery Rock honored its five senior players: Richard Bivens, Khyree Wooten, Merdic Green, Christal Malalu and Tony Gates, and its three senior managers: Malory Gerst, Gunnar Geyer and Jack Roach, prior to the game.
 

To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).