MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team lost its third one-possession game of the season in a 69-66 setback Saturday at Millersville University.
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Crossover defeat moves The Rock's record to 1-5 overall and 0-2 inside the conference while the host Marauders improve to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in league contests.
Of The Rock's five losses, four have been decided by no more than eight points including three-one possession decisions.
The duo of
Lashon Lindsey and
Ike Herster combined for 32 of The Rock's 66 points via matching 16-point efforts with Lindsey also pulling down 13 rebounds, passing out four assists and blocking three shots in his third double-double effort of the year.
Herster came off the bench to make 3-of-6 3-point attempts and 5-of-12 field goals overall. He exits the weekend having made six of his last 14 3-point attempts over two PSAC contests.
Sheick Samoura made his second start of the season and was SRU's third double-figure scorer with 11 points in addition to a pair of steals.
Joining Samoura and Lindsey in the starting lineup were
Ja'Mier Fletcher, who had seven points and eight rebounds, as well as
Jomo Goings with eight points and five rebounds and
Luke Howes, who had a six-point, five-rebound showing.
Slippery Rock had one of its top shooting games of the season, as it finished the contest at 45.1 percent (23-of-51) and 35.3 percent (6-of-17) from 3-point territory. Additionally, SRU had another solid outing at the foul line, going 14-of-19 (.737).
In what was a back-and-forth game for its duration with 12 lead changes and seven ties, The Rock and Marauders played a tight opening 20 minutes.
Millersville appeared poised to take a five-point lead into the break before Herster drew a foul on a last-second shot in the period from just inside halfcourt and proceed to make all three attempts to cut The Rock's deficit to 31-29 heading into the break. Herster scored 13 points in the first half.
SRU carried over its momentum from Herster's late free throws into the second period as it led for the majority of the first 15 minutes of action in the final half, eventually taking a 55-50 lead over Millersville with five minutes left to play.
However, the Marauders secured six unanswered points over the next 60 seconds to erase SRU's lead and take a 56-55 advantage of their own. Millersville went on to build its lead out to 68-63 with only 26 seconds remaining in regulation courtesy of a 12-8 run.
To their credit, Slippery Rock did not quit as Lindsey made a 3-pointer on a Goings pass to make it a two-point contest at the 18-second mark in the half.
Millersville would go on to barely hold off The Rock's comeback bid as it made just one of its next four free throws before stealing a final desperation inbounds pass as time expired to escape with the three-point victory.
MU forced The Rock into 20 miscues, which resulted in 22 points off turnovers. Conversely, MU committed just five turnovers while finishing the game shooting 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field overall.
The Marauders were awarded 39 foul shots, but in large part couldn't take advantage of their extended time at the free throw line as they converted just 20 of the attempts (.513). Jaden Faulkner scored a game-high 22 points for Millersville in the win.
Slippery Rock closes out its six-game road trip 6 p.m. Dec. 14 at Davis & Elkins College.
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