SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team earned a 54-50 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory against Clarion Wednesday at Morrow Field House.

The victory improves The Rock's record to 16-11 on the season overall and 10-11 in league competition while Clarion falls to 3-24 overall and 1-20 in the PSAC. Wednesday's win also assures SRU of its third year with at least 16 victories in the last four seasons under head coach Ian Grady.
 
Heading into the final game of the regular season, Slippery Rock's position, and opponent, for the PSAC Tournament is locked in. SRU will enter the postseason as the sixth seed in the PSAC West and travel to No. 3 seed Pitt-Johnstown for a first-round game Feb. 27.
 
Coincidentally, The Rock and Mountain Cats will also close the regular season against each other 3 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House.
 
The win also marked the third time in the last three years in which SRU has held a PSAC West opponent to 50 or fewer points. The Rock previously beat Seton Hill 58-50 on Feb. 15, 2020 and Clarion 73-46 on Jan. 3, 2020.
 
Jonathan McFall broke out of a four-game scoring slump to lead Slippery Rock in the victory with 17 points, six rebounds and one steal. McFall was a near perfect 7-of-10 from the field overall with one 3-pointer and what turned out to be a pair of crucial foul shots. Five of McFall's six rebounds came on the offensive glass.
 
Jomo Goings also finished in double figures for SRU as part of an 11-point, five-rebound, one-steal, one-block outing.
 
Khalid Gates and Amante Britt added six points apiece with Gates also pulling in five rebounds and making two steals. Lashon Lindsey rounded out The Rock's starters with five points, six rebounds and one steal.
 
The reserve trio of Nik Cazacu, Ahmad Galimore and Bobby Clifford combined to tally 17 rebounds with Clifford also scoring five points and Galimore posting one block.
 
Clarion got out to an early 11-4 lead four minutes into regulation only for SRU to limit the Golden Eagles to just 11 more points for the remainder of the half.
 
With Clarion being kept firmly in check on offense following its early run, The Rock's own attack slowly started to come life as Lindsey ignited a late 7-2 run with five points over the final two minutes of the period, sending SRU into halftime leading 27-22.
 
The duo of Goings and McFall combined to score 17 of The Rock's first 19 points in the second half, allowing SRU to stretch its lead out to 12 points at 46-34 with 6:52 remaining in regulation.
 
While the Golden Eagles were able to trim SRU's advantage to just three points with 20 seconds to play, Slippery Rock was able to avoid the upset thanks to McFall making 2-of-3 free throws in the contest's waning moments to preserve the eventual four-point win.
 
Slippery Rock earned the win despite committing 19 turnovers and shooting 36.1 percent (22-of-61) from the field thanks in no small part to a +14-rebound margin (43-29). Included in what was SRU's highest rebound total in a month was 19 offensive rebounds which were turned into 20 second chance points.
 
Clarion shot only marginally better than The Rock at 36.5 percent (19-of-52) overall and 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from 3-point range while committing 17 turnovers of its own. Steve Kelly recorded a game-high 23 points to pace Clarion.
 
SRU now turns its attention to its set of back-to-back games against Pitt-Johnstown starting with Saturday's regular season finale at Morrow Field House with the PSAC Tournament contest to follow Feb. 28 at a time yet to be determined in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Mountain Cats won a tight 72-68 contest over SRU earlier in the season at UPJ.
 
Prior to Saturday's game, Slippery Rock's 2022-23 senior class of Britt, Cazacu, McFall and Earl Baker Jr. will be honored for their contributions to the program over the careers.
 
 
 

To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).