SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team overcame a slow start and fought through its worst shooting performance of the season to earn a 70-61 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory over Seton Hill University Saturday at Morrow Field House.
 
The win, Slippery Rock's seventh in its last eight games, improved SRU's record to 10-3 on the season overall and to 6-1 in league games. Seton Hill drops to 1-13 overall and 1-8 in PSAC contests after the defeat.
 
SRU, which trailed by as many as 16 points midway through the first half, spent the majority of the game chasing the upset-minded Griffins before ultimately pulling even with SHU at 50-50 with 5:44 remaining in regulation.
 
Slippery Rock went on to score five straight points courtesy of a pair of free throws by Tyler Frederick and a 3-pointer by Dylan Ahearn that gave SRU a 55-50 lead at the 4:30 mark of the contest it would never relinquish.
 
While the Griffins cut The Rock's lead to as little as two points on three sperate occasions down the stretch, they could never quite re-gain the lead as SRU closed out the win by holding SHU without a point for the final 1:33 of play combined with Frederick scoring six of SRU's last 15 points.
 
Frederick picked up his fifth double-double of the season via a 16-point, 13-rebound effort. Ahearn came off the bench to provide a spark to a struggling offense by making 3-of-4 3-point attempts in the second half on the way to a season-high matching nine points.
 
Amante Britt served as The Rock's second-leading scorer as the junior point guard narrowly missed out on a double-double with 14 points, eight assists and four steals all the while committing just two turnovers in 38 minutes played.
 
Lashon Lindsey provided The Rock with 10 points and seven rebounds. He made two of his three field goal attempts while going a near perfect 6-of-7 at the foul line. Bobby Clifford rounded out The Rock's top contributors by producing eight points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal.
 
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for The Rock to open the game as SRU made just two of its first 15 field goal attempts while the Griffins converted 9-of-17 shots including three 3-pointers en route to jumping out to a 22-7 lead midway through the first half.
 
Following the sloppy start, Slippery Rock begam to chip away at the Griffins' sizeable lead as SRU closed out the half on a 15-8 run to make it a single-digit contest at 30-22 heading into the halftime break. Lindsey sparked SRU's late run by scoring five straight points to give The Rock life going into halftime.
 
As has been the case all year long, Slippery Rock once again opened the second half strong as Britt scored or assisted on three straight possessions while Jonathan McFall capped off an impressive 12-4 run with a powerful dunk to even the contest at 34-34 with just under 16 minutes left in regulation.
 
Slippery Rock and Seton Hill proceeded to trade baskets over the next 11 minutes as the Griffins clung to their lead for much of the stretch before a 5-0 Rock run which included an Ahearn 3-pointer and a layup by Frederick gave SRU its first lead of the game at 46-44 with nine minutes to play.
 
The lead proved to be brief as SRU and SHU continued to go toe-to-toe with one another for the following four minutes, playing to the aforementioned 50-50 tie that led to The Rock's game-winning run.
 
Slippery Rock bounced back from a first half in which it shot just 23.3 percent (7-of-30) from the field by making 16-of-30 attempts (53.3 percent) in the final 20 minutes to finish the game shooting 38.3 percent (23-of-60) from the field overall including a 7-of-31 (.226) showing from 3-point range and a 17-of-25 (.680) day at the foul line.
 
SRU committed just nine turnovers while forcing Seton Hill into 16 miscues which translated into 18 points. The Rock also held a +8 advantage in rebounding (41-33) over the Griffins.
 
Seton Hill's starting lineup accounted for all of its offense with the duo of Drew Green and Ryan Meis combing for 41 of SHU's 61 points. As a team, the Griffins shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the field overall, 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from 3-point territory and 71.4 percent (5-of-7) at the foul line.
 
For the first time in over a month, SRU will take to the road to play at No. 10 Indiana University (Pa.) 7 p.m. Jan. 17.
 
 
 
 

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