SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team shot just under 52 percent in the second half to pull away down the stretch for a 79-73 victory over Edinboro University Saturday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action from Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock improve to 10-9 overall and 6-7 in PSAC games with the victory, while Edinboro drops its eighth straight game to slip to 5-12 overall and 2-11 in PSAC games.
 
The Fighting Scots knocked down a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game and led for more than 12 minutes early thanks to a 48.1 percent shooting effort in the first half and a 34.2 percent showing from The Rock.
 
After Edinboro took a 22-19 lead with 7:44 to play in the first half, Slippery Rock rallied back with an 8-0 run that flipped the momentum of the game. Micah Till scored five of those eight points to ignite a run that put The Rock up 27-22 with 5:18 to play in the half.
 
SRU would lead the rest of the half and took a 38-37 advantage into the break.
 
Edinboro battled back early in the second half and regained a two-point cushion at 47-45 with 17:27 to play, but Slippery Rock answered with another 8-0 run. Will Robinson Jr. tallied four points and Till and Amante Britt each contributed a bucket to put SRU back in front. After Edinboro stopped that streak, Britt knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner to push the run out to 11-2 and give The Rock a 58-49 lead with 13:48 to play.
 
Slippery Rock edged the advantage out to a game-high 14 points midway through the period before Edinboro went into a defensive zone and began to chip away at the lead. The Scots put together an 11-1 run to cut the deficit to just one point at 70-69 with 2:46 to play. Britt converted on back-to-back possessions after an SRU timeout to push the advantage back out to five points. Edinboro would get no closer than three points down the stretch and was held without a successful field goal for the final 1:29.
 
Till paced The Rock with 26 points and seven rebounds to go along with two assists, one steal and no turnovers in 29 minutes. In the process, he passed Dennis Greene (1991-95) for eighth on the all-time scoring ledger at SRU and became the eighth man in program history to reach 1,300 career points. Till, who now has 1,301 points in 63 games at SRU, has played fewer games than every other 1,000+ point scorer in program history. He is 39 points shy of jumping two more spots up to sixth on the all-time scoring ledger.
 
Robinson Jr. scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds to mark his sixth consecutive game with at least 20 points. Britt tallied 13 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out two assists for his third straight double-digit scoring effort.
 
Donovan Walker added six points, Deontae Robertson scored five points, Revelinio Tholel had four points, seven rebounds, three blocks and a game-high seven assists and Will Bounds scored five points and grabbed five boards in 13 solid minutes off the bench.
 
Slippery Rock shot 51.9 percent in the second half after the slow start and finished the day shooting 41.5 percent from the field (27-of-65), 34.6 percent from 3-point (9-of-26) and 69.6 percent at the free throw line (16-of-23). Rebounds were even at 37-37, marking the first time in the last six games that SRU hasn't outrebounded its opponent by double digits. The Rock pulled down 13 offensive boards and converted those into 15 second-chance points.
 
Edinboro shot 43.9 percent from the field (25-of-57), 33.3 percent from 3-point (10-of-30) and 81.3 percent from the free throw line (13-of-16). The Scots were minus-9 in the turnover battle with 14 giveaways, while SRU turned the ball over a season-low five times. The marked the first game with five or fewer turnovers for a Rock team since Dec. 30, 2017 against Seton Hill.
 
Turner Kurt led the way for Edinboro with 22 points. Trey Staunch added 18 points and Jaryn Simpson scored 17 points.
 
Slippery Rock won its third straight against Edinboro, improved to 11-1 in its last 12 home games against the Fighting Scots and improved to 18-4 in the last 22 meetings in the series.
 
The Rock will look to carry their momentum into the final game of the first round of PSAC West play when Gannon visits Morrow Field House Wednesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
 
  

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