SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Behind a career-high 33 points from Amante Britt, the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team led for over 39 minutes in an 87-65 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory over Clarion University Monday at Morrow Field House.
 
The victory, SRU's second in as many games, improves The Rock's record to 13-10 on the year overall and 9-8 in the PSAC while Clarion falls to 9-15 overall and 5-14 in league play with the loss.
 
Slippery Rock also moved one step closer to clinching a PSAC Tournament berth with its win over the Golden Eagles as SRU could secure a postseason bid Wednesday with a win over Gannon combined with a loss by Edinboro against Indiana (Pa.).
 
Monday's game not only marked the second straight contest in which SRU did not trail for a single second, but it also avenged a seven-point road loss to Clarion from earlier in the year.
 
Britt played a near perfect game for The Rock Monday as the junior point guard collected his career-high point total on 13-of-18 shooting from the field overall that included a 5-of-7 showing from 3-point range and a perfect 2-for-2 effort at the foul line all the while collecting seven rebounds, dishing out four assists and making two steals.
 
The duo of Tyler Frederick and Frankie Hughes supplemented Britt's offensive onslaught with 11 points apiece. Frederick also tallied eight rebounds, four assists and two steals with Hughes posting five assists and a block of his own.
 
Rounding out SRU's starting lineup was Jonathan McFall with 10 points and five rebounds and Bobby Clifford who totaled five points, five rebounds and one block as well.
 
Lashon Lindsey came off the bench to go for eight points and seven rebounds. Earl Baker Jr. chipped in five points and three rebounds while Nik Cazacu added four points to round out SRU's top contributors.
 
Slippery Rock wasted little time setting the tone for Monday's game as it jumped out to a 22-5 lead on the Golden Eagles through the opening eight minutes of competition. While Clarion was able to briefly cut its deficit to single digits, a driving layup by Hughes late in the half sent SRU into the break leading by 11 points, 38-27.
 
SRU quickly put the game away to start the second half as The Rock scored 12 of the first 17 points in the final 20 minutes to open up a 50-32 edge it would never come close to surrendering as Slippery Rock went on to lead by as many as 34 points en route to the decisive 22-point victory.
 
Slippery Rock enjoyed its best overall shooting performance of the season against a Division II team, finishing the night with a 52.9 field goal percentage after connecting on 36-of-68 shot attempts. The Rock also knocked down 37.5 percent (9-of-24) of their 3-pointers while going a virtually flawless 6-of-7 (.857) at the foul line.
 
The Rock dominated the glass Monday via a +17 (40-23) rebounding margin in addition to committing just 10 turnovers. Defensively, SRU held Clarion's Gerald Jarmon, who scored 35 points in the Golden Eagles' win over The Rock earlier in the season and entered Monday as the third-leading scorer in the PSAC, to just seven points.
 
Clarion closed the game shooting 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field overall, 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from 3-point range and 82.4 percent (14-of-17) at the free throw line. Kaison Branch led the Golden Eagles with 19 points.
 
Slippery Rock closes the week with back-to-back games against Gannon University as The Rock will first travel to Erie to play at GU 7 p.m. Wednesday before coming home to host the Golden Knights at Morrow Field House 3 p.m. Saturday.
 
 



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