SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 73-68 loss to Mercyhurst University in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals Wednesday evening at Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock (19-10) trailed 33-28 at halftime after shooting just 33.3 percent in the opening period, but turned it on in the second half with a 44.1 percent efficiency over the final 20 minutes. SRU would end up outscoring Mercyhurst (22-6) by eight points from the field in the second half, but the Lakers outscored The Rock by eight points from the charity stripe to hold off the late charge and advance to the PSAC semifinals to face East Stroudsburg.
 
In total, Mercyhurst made 24 trips to the free throw line and knocked down 17 shots, outscoring SRU by nine points at the line. The Rock made just 10 trips to the stripe and hit eight free throws, which marked the third time in the last six games SRU managed to get to the line 10 or fewer times.
 
Slippery Rock battled back from an 11-point deficit midway through the opening period and eventually took its only lead of the game with 14:41 to play in the second half, but Mercyhurst answered quickly with the hot hand of Trystan Pratapas. Pratapas played just two minutes in the first half and didn't take a single shot attempt. He played just nine minutes in the second half, but made five straight shots, including four 3-pointers to stop the SRU momentum swing.
 
The Lakers would build their advantage back out to 11 points with 3:42 to play before one final surge from The Rock. Slippery Rock reeled off an 8-1 run and eventually cut the deficit to three points at 71-68 with 50 seconds to play, but wouldn't score again down the stretch.
 
Mercyhurst finished the game shooting 41.4 percent from the field (24-of-58), 40 percent from 3-point (8-of-20) and 70.8 percent from the free throw line (17-of-24). The Lakers took advantage of Slippery Rock playing without All-American forward Micah Till, who was the leading scorer and rebounder in the PSAC West all year. Till missed his seventh straight game with an injury, which helped Mercyhurst to post a 46-35 edge in rebounds and score 12 second chance points on 14 offensive rebounds.
 
Slippery Rock shot 38.8 percent from the field (26-of-67), 47.1 percent from 3-point (8-of-17) and 80 percent from the free throw line (8-of-10). The Rock blocked six total shots and turned the ball over just seven times in the game.
 
Jared Armstrong nearly single-handedly kept Slippery Rock in the game in the first half, shooting 60 percent (6-of-10) and scoring 15 points over the opening 20 minutes when the rest of the team shot just 5-of-23 combined. Armstrong was stellar again in the second half and finished his night with a game-high 28 points, which included a 6-of-9 effort from 3-point.
 
John Warren II was the only other SRU player to reach double figures and finished with 11 points and four assists. Julius Palmer added nine points, four rebounds and three blocks and Nolen Gerald and VInny Lasley each scored six points.
 
Mercyhurst got 16 points from Jason Massey, who scored 14 of those in the first half, and also got 16 points from Derrick Ellis. Pratapas finished with 14 points, all in the second half, and Nelson Maxwell scored eight points, all from the free throw line.
 
Wednesday's loss ends the 2018-19 season with a 19-10 record for Slippery Rock and first-year head coach Ian Grady, which included a 16-5 record in PSAC games and a mid-season 12-game winning streak, which was the third longest in program history.  The Rock went 4-3 down the stretch after playing the final seven games without Till, who averaged 21.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game over the first 22 games this year.
 


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