SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team lost its 2021-22 season-opener to Notre Dame College in overtime, 99-95, at Morrow Field House on night one of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce Conference Challenge.
 
Slippery Rock (0-1) led by as many as 21 points midway through the second half and seemed assured of picking up its first win of the year, but the Falcons (1-0) closed the second half on a 27-6 run to force overtime where they scored four straight points in the final minute to come away with the four-point victory.
 
Prized recruit Frankie Hughes more than lived up to his billing in his SRU debut as the graduate transfer scored a game-high 27 points while grabbing eight rebounds and passing out four assists. Hughes, who was 8-of-20 from the field overall, connected on six of his 12 3-point attempts.
 
Tyler Frederick, who was the 2019-20 All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Player of the Year at La Roche College, recorded a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds in addition to blocking one shot over 26 minutes.
 
Fellow starters Jonathan McFall and Bobby Clifford added 13 and 12 points, respectively, with McFall also corralling eight rebounds and blocking a pair of shots. In what was his collegiate debut, Clifford was an efficient 5-for-7 from the field overall and 2-for-4 from 3-point range.
 
Lashon Lindsey came off the bench to post 13 points, six rebounds, one block and one steal while going 5-for-9 from the field overall and 3-for-6 from long range.
 
Veteran point guard Amante Britt guided the offense by dishing out a career-high 11 assists all the while matching his personal-best with four steals and chipping in four points. Rounding out The Rock's top performers was Jomo Goings, who went for seven points and five rebounds in his first game in a Slippery Rock uniform.
 
Slippery Rock came out of the gates on a tear, connecting on 20-of-34 field goal attempts in the first half including an impeccable 8-for-14 showing from 3-point territory to take a solid 10-point advantage over Notre Dame into halftime, 54-44. Hughes (14), Frederick (11) and Clifford (10) all hit double figures in the opening 20 minutes for SRU.
 
The Rock continued to control the game through the first 10 minutes of the second half as SRU pushed its lead out to seemingly commanding 21 points at 80-59 with 9:17 left in regulation.
 
However, Slippery Rock was unable to put the game away as The Rock made just three of their final 14 shots in regulation while NDC proceeded to rattle off 27 of the final 33 points of the second half to force overtime.
 
Hughes and Lindsey both hit 3-pointers to open overtime, helping to push SRU out to a three-point lead with 2:42 left to play, but SRU could not fend off the upset-minded Falcons as Michael Sampson scored six of Notre Dame's final eight points while The Rock were unable to score a point in the final minute of overtime en route to NDC's 99-95 win.  
 
As a team, Slippery Rock shot 47.3 percent (35-of-74) from the field overall while making 40 percent (12-of-30) of its 3-pointers and 65 percent (13-of-20) of its foul shots. The Rock held a 45-39 edge over the Falcons in rebounds.
 
Notre Dame shot 48.6 percent (36-for-74) from the field and 11-for-23 (47.8 percent) from 3-point range while converting 80 percent (16-of-20) of its foul shots. NDC, which forced SRU into 15 turnovers while making 11 miscues of its own, held advantages over The Rock in points off turnovers (23-11) and second chance points (25-18). Jaedon Willis paced six Falcons in double figures with 21 points.
 
Friday's game marked the third consecutive year that Slippery Rock has played Notre Dame in its season-opener. The three games have been decided by a total of just eight points.
 
Slippery Rock closes out the inaugural Butler County Chamber of Commerce Conference Challenge at Morrow Field House 7 p.m. Saturday against Alderson-Broaddus University.
 




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