SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team ran its winning streak to nine games in convincing fashion with a 97-64 victory over Clarion University Wednesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action from Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock have now won 10 of their last 11 games and nine straight to improve to 11-5 overall and 8-1 in PSAC games. Included in that record is an 8-1 mark in home games and eight consecutive conference wins. Clarion drops to 4-9 overall and 2-7 in PSAC contests with the loss.
 
The Golden Eagles kept things close in the early stages Wednesday night and trailed by just two points six minutes in, but Slippery Rock put together a 19-5 run over a four-minute stretch to break the game open midway through the first period. The Rock extended the lead to 50-32 at halftime and opened the second half on a 33-13 run to put the game away.
 
Slippery Rock shot 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point in the opening half on the way to building an 18-point lead at the break. The Rock cooled off in the second half at 43 percent from the field to finish the night shooting 48.1 percent from the floor (38-of-79), 41.9 percent from 3-point (13-of-31) and just 44.4 percent from the free throw line (8-of-18). SRU forced Clarion into 23 turnovers and flipped those miscues into a 31-10 advantage in points off turnovers and a 14-6 edge on the fast break.
 
Jared Armstrong led all scorers in the game with 25 points on a 9-of-13 shooting effort to pace SRU. John Warren II added 20 points, four assists and three steals and Micah Till recorded his sixth double-double in the last nine games with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Till also finished with four blocks, three steals and no turnovers. His 17 points on the night bring his career scoring total to 986 points in less than two years at SRU. He needs just 14 points to become the 14th player in program history with at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
 
Slippery Rock got scoring contributions from 11 players, including eight points and three assists from Nolen Gerald, six points from Nick Barney, five points each from Amante Britt and Andre Seadey and four points and six rebounds from Vinny Lasley.
 
Clarion shot 37.3 percent from the field (25-of-67), 17.6 percent from 3-point (3-of-17) and 61.1 percent at the free throw line (11-of-18). The Golden Eagles managed to outrebound SRU by a 49-45 margin, which included 19 offensive rebounds.
 
All 11 players that saw the floor for Clarion scored points in the game, led by Elijah Cottrill with 14 points and Khari Williams with 11 points.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to looking for its 10th consecutive win with a short turnaround as The Rock will travel to Mansfield University Friday night for a 7 p.m. game. That contest was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was bumped up one day due to the threat of a strong winter storm expected to hit Pennsylvania Saturday.
 
 

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