SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team fought off a late rally to defeat Salem University 72-69 in non-conference action Sunday afternoon at Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock improve to 5-4 with the victory, while the Tigers drop to 4-6.
 
Slippery Rock led for just over 37 minutes of the game, but never managed to push the lead above nine points as Salem hung around all afternoon. The Tigers briefly took a 36-34 lead just 48 seconds into the second half, but The Rock responded with a 10-0 run and would never trail the rest of the way.
 
SRU held its biggest lead of the game at 68-59 with with 4:12 to play, but Salem put together a 10-2 run to cut that margin to 70-69 with 1:56 left. The Tigers had five possessions while the score was 70-69 and failed to convert on any of those possessions, missing three straight 3-point attempts before Micah Till blocked a layup with 42 seconds left to thwart a fourth straight chance for Salem to take the lead. After SRU failed to convert on the other end, Till made another key defensive play when he forced a bad pass that was stolen by Will Robinson Jr. inside the final 10 seconds. Robinson knocked down two free throws with six seconds left and a desperation 3-point attempt from Salem at the buzzer was no good.
 
Till made his season debut for Slippery Rock and made a big impact while playing limited minutes. He came off the bench midway through the first half and finished his day with 14 points, three rebounds, three blocks and three steals in 18 minutes.
 
Robinson tallied his sixth double-double in the first nine games this winter with team-highs of 22 points and 17 rebounds, which included seven offensive boards.
 
Jared Armstrong added 14 points and Donovan Walker scored 12 points to cap four Rock players in double figures. Amante Britt handed out a game-high eight assists and Revelinio Tholel grabbed six rebounds.
 
Slippery Rock shot 35.2 percent from the field (25-o-17) and 33.3 percent from 3-point (8-of-24), but took advantage of 18 Salem turnovers and converted those into 20 fast break points. The Rock were also solid at the charity stripe, knocking down 14-of-16 free throws (87.5 percent).
 
Salem shot 42.2 percent from the field (27-of-64), 25.0 percent from 3-point (6-of-24) and 81.8 percent from the free throw line (9-of-11). The Tigers posted a 45-40 edge in total rebounds and outscored SRU 40-30 in the paint.
 
Jordan Forbes led all players in the game with 23 points and also grabbed 14 rebounds for a double-double to pace Salem. Ralph Diaz also had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Sunday's game marked the final non-conference game of the season for Slippery Rock, which will return to Pennsylania State Athletic Conference action next weekend with a pair of road games at Eastern Division opponents, visiting Kutztown Friday evening and West Chester Saturday evening to the final games of the 2019 calendar year.
 
The Rock will then open PSAC West play Jan. 3 at Clarion and return home Jan. 6 against Cal U.



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