INDIANA, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team was able to cut a 20-point first half deficit down to as little as four in the second half, but couldn't complete its comeback bid Monday in a 72-61 road loss at No. 8 Indiana University (Pa.).
 
The loss drops Slippery Rock's record to 11-9 on the season overall and 7-6 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division competition while the nationally ranked Crimson Hawks improve to 20-2 overall and 14-2 in league games.
 
Monday's game marked the second consecutive contest between The Rock and Crimson Hawks; the two teams previously played Feb. 5 at Morrow Field House with IUP narrowly edging SRU 70-65.
 
Amante Britt led three Rock players in double figures Monday with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting overall including a 2-for-4 effort from 3-point range and 1-of-2 night at the foul line while also passing out four assists and making two steals over 37 minutes.
 
Jonathan McFall and Frankie Hughes scored 12 points apiece with McFall grabbing five rebounds and Hughes adding a pair of steals.
 
Tyler Frederick produced a near double-double showing of nine points and seven rebounds inside. Dylan Ahearn scored six points and Lashon Lindsey grabbed six rebounds, scored three points made two steals and blocked one shot to round out The Rock's top performers.
 
IUP jumped out to a 32-12 lead over the game's first 13 minutes, forcing Slippery Rock to play catch-up for the remainder of the night.
 
To The Rock's credit, they did not quit following the early Crimson Hawks surge as SRU closed the opening half by scoring 20 of the period's final 28 points to send the contest into the break with IUP leading by eight points at 40-32. Six Rock players scored over the final run with McFall leading the way by posting six points.
 
McFall and Ahearn opened the second half with back-to-back baskets to cut IUP's lead down to just 40-36. However, the four-point margin proved to be as close as Slippery Rock would get as Indiana went on to extend its lead back out to 17 points after accounting for 20 of the contest's next 27 points.
 
While The Rock were able to get the margin back to within seven points twice it never seriously threatened Indiana's lead again as the Crimson Hawks closed out the 72-61 victory by holding SRU to just two points in the game's final four minutes.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game shooting 38.9 percent (21-of-54) from the field overall, 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from 3-point range and 68.4 percent (13-of-19) from the foul line while scoring 19 points off of 12 IUP turnovers.
 
The Crimson Hawks shot 45.3 percent (24-of-53) from the field overall, 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from distance and 89.5 percent (17-of-19) at the foul line in addition to holding a +5 (34-29) rebounding advantage over SRU. Ethan Porterfield led all scorers with a game-high 23 points.
 
Slippery Rock closes the week with two more road contests 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pitt-Johnstown and 3 p.m. Saturday at Seton Hill.





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