ERIE, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team picked up its third straight win and, in the process, clinched a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament berth following a 71-58 victory on the road Wednesday at Gannon.
 
In addition to securing The Rock's 11th trip to the postseason in the last 13 seasons, Wednesday's win improved SRU's record to 14-10 on the year overall and 10-8 in the PSAC West while Gannon drops to 12-11 overall and 9-10 in league play following the loss.
 
The victory over the Golden Knights was also the 48th win in the career of head coach Ian Grady who is now tied with West Chester's Damian Blair for the most victories by an active PSAC coach through the first three years at their current schools.
 
Frankie Hughes led the way for SRU with 21 points on an efficient 6-of-11 shooting night from the field that included a 4-of-8 showing from 3-point range all the while making 5-of-6 foul shots, dishing out five assists and making three steals.
 
Tyler Frederick collected his ninth double-double of the season following a 19-point, 11-rebound, two-steal effort.
 
Point guard Amante Britt joined Hughes and Frederick in double figures with 10 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists as well as one steal to become just the sixth player in program history to total at least 500 points, 200 assists and 100 steals for his career.
 
Jonathan McFall added eight points, five rebounds, one block and one steal while Lashon Lindsey came off the bench to post seven points, three rebounds, two blocks and one steal.
 
Slippery Rock successfully navigated a notoriously tough road environment by leading for the final 17 minutes of the opening period, eventually taking a seven-point lead at 31-24 heading into halftime break. Hughes accounted for 10 of SRU's points in the opening half.
 
SRU, which led for the entirety of the final 20 minutes, blew the contest open midway through the second half courtesy of a decisive 12-0 spurt that featured five points by Lindsey as well as run-capping alley-oop from McFall to Frederick which gave Slippery Rock a commanding 21-point lead, 63-42, that it would never come close to relinquishing on the way to its 13-point win.  
 
The Rock closed the night shooting 44.6 percent (25-of-56) from the field overall, 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from 3-point range and an excellent 87.5 percent (14-of-16) at the foul line. Slippery Rock dominated the glass, finishing with a +8 (35-27) rebounding margin.

SRU turned its 12 offensive rebounds into 11 second chance points while 17 Gannon turnovers were parlayed into 20 points. Slippery Rock has now held opponents to under 70 points in three consecutive games.
 
Gannon shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the field overall, 20 percent (3-of-15) from 3-point range and 70 percent (7-of-10) at the free throw line. Demetrius Mims scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Golden Knights.
 
Slippery Rock and Gannon conclude their season series 3 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House.
 
Saturday's game will be The Rock's Breast Cancer Awareness Game. Slippery Rock encourages fans to wear pink to the games. The Rock will run a special 50/50 and will be accepting donations with all proceeds going to local breast cancer organizations. Survivors of breast cancer and families impacted by the disease will be recognized before each game. The Rock basketball teams will also wear pink warm-ups for the game.
 
The Rock men's basketball team will also be accepting donations for Bob's Cupboard at both the women's and men's games Saturday. Fans that bring any of the items listed below will receive free admission to the games. Bob's cupboard is a collaborative project between SRU's Student Government Association, the Macoskey Center and the Bonner Leader Program. It was created to provide food and other needed supplies to SRU students experiencing food insecurity.






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