FAIRMONT, W. Va. - Jared Armstrong made a 3-pointer as time expired to lift the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a 78-76 victory against Notre Dame College Friday night on day one of the Joe Retton Classic in Fairmont, West Virginia.
Friday's game was a back-and-forth contest for all 40 minutes, but The Rock's chances of earning a season-opening victory seemed dire late in the game after Notre Dame's Larenz Thurman converted a pair of free throws to give the Falcons a 76-75 advantage with just four seconds left to play.
However, coming out of a Rock timeout, Armstrong hit the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to give SRU the hard-fought two-point victory.
The win avenged a heartbreaking loss to the Falcons from a season ago at the Joe Retton Classic in which Will Vorhees make a jumper with three seconds remaining in regulation that resulted in a 77-75 Notre Dame win.
Armstrong finished the game scoring 20 points in 38 minutes played. The senior guard went 4-for-10 from 3-point range with three of the triples coming in the second half.
In his official Slippery Rock debut,
Will Robinson Jr. scored 25 points while pulling down a game-high 17 rebounds. His double-double effort was highlighted by a 9-for-13 shooting performance from the field and a 7-for-10 mark at the free throw line. Robinson Jr. accounted for 48.6 percent of SRU's total rebounds.
Not only a game-high, Robinson Jr.'s 17 rebounds were also the most of any player in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Friday.
Donovan Walker was the third Rock athlete to finish in double figures with 12 points in addition to one block and a steal.
Will Bounds and
Revelinio Tholel rounded out The Rock's leading scorers at five points apiece.
Slippery Rock concluded the game shooting 47.6 percent (30-for-63) from the field overall. While SRU shot just 30 percent (6-for-20) from 3-point territory overall, it did overcome a cold start from deep by making 5-of-9 3-point attempts in the second half. The Rock also shot 66.7 percent (12-for-18) from the free throw line.
For the game, Slippery Rock held advantages over the Falcons in rebounds (35-34), steals (4-2), blocks (2-0), points off turnovers (10-5) and bench scoring (22-8). SRU also matched a 48-game low with just six turnovers.
Notre Dame finished the night shooting 45 percent (27-for-60) from the field overall, 32 percent (8-for-25) from 3-point range and 87.5 percent (14-for-16) at the foul line. Levi Frankland scored a game-high 26 points in the loss for the Falcons.
Slippery Rock withstood an early 8-0 run by Notre Dame to open the game. Following NDC's early surge, SRU held the Falcons to a field goal percentage of just .269 (7-for-26) for the remainder of the opening half as The Rock outscored Notre Dame 32-23 in the final 18 minutes of the first half to take a 32-31 lead into halftime.
Robinson Jr. and Armstrong accounted for 21 of The Rock's 32 points in the opening 20 minutes with Robinson Jr. also pulling in eight of his 17 rebounds in the first half.
The Rock and Falcons traded the lead eight times over the first 12 minutes of the second half before Slippery Rock opened up a 10-point lead with 7:46 to play.
Notre Dame went on to chip away at Slippery Rock's advantage, eventually taking a 72-71 lead of its own with 60 seconds left in the half. From there, SRU and NDC once again exchanged baskets leading to the Falcons' late free throws and Armstrong's game-winning 3-pointer.
Slippery Rock returns to competition 8 p.m. Saturday on day two of the Joe Retton Classic against host Fairmont State University. A Rock victory would give SRU its second 2-0 start to a season in the last three years.
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