SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball led No. 21 Mercyhurst University by 11 points in the first half, but a strong finish by the Lakers resulted in a 72-57 MU victory Wednesday at Morrow Field House.
 
The home defeat moves The Rock's record to 14-10 overall and 8-10 inside the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference while the nationally ranked Lakers improve to 18-3 overall and 14-3 in conference competition.
 
The highlight of the night for Slippery Rock came courtesy of senior point guard Amante Britt, who scored his 1,000th career point early in the first half. Britt is now just the second player in program history to record at least 1,000 points, 300 assists and 100 steals.
 
Britt was the architect of SRU's strong start as he connected on five straight shots to open the game on the way to 13 first-half points. He finished the game with a team-high 19 points in addition to a pair of assists.
 
With four games left in the regular season, Britt now ranks second in program history in games started (110), third in minutes played (3,049), fourth in assists (326), fifth in games played (110), sixth in steals (138) and 24th in scoring (1,017).
 
Jomo Goings was SRU's second-leading scorer for the night with 13 points and Khalid Gates just missed out on a double-double with 10 points, nine rebounds, one block and one steal.
 
Lashon Lindsey produced a six-point, seven-rebound, three-steal, two-block performance while the duo of Jonathan McFall and Ahmad Galimore came off the bench to combine for nine points with Galimore also grabbing three rebounds, dishing out two assists and making one steal.
 
Spurred on by Britt, Slippery Rock was great for the vast majority of the first half as SRU connected on six 3-pointers in the game's first 17 minutes to build a sizable 11-point lead at 33-22. The trio of Britt (3-for-3), Goings (1-for-1) and Lindsey (1-for-2) combined to go 4-for-6 from deep in the opening 20 minutes.
 
However, in what was a preview of things to come, Mercyhurst answered The Rock's hot start with a dominant final three minutes in which the Lakers scored 11 of the next 13 points to cut SRU's lead to 35-33 heading into halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, Slippery Rock traded baskets with Mercyhurst through the early stages of the second half, but with SRU leading by three points (39-36) three minutes into the period the Lakers proceeded to go on a 27-6 run over the following eight minutes to open up an 18-point lead The Rock could never battle back from in an eventual 15-point Rock loss.
 
Slippery Rock ended the evening shooting 40.7 percent (22-of-54) overall, a very solid 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from 3-point territory and an uncharacteristically low 54.5 percent (6-of-11) at the foul line.
 
The Lakers shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field overall, 50 percent (10-of-20) from 3-point range and 72.7 percent (8-of-11) at the foul line while holding a +6 (36-30) edge in rebounding and committing just eight turnovers to The Rock's 11.
 
Michael Bradley had 22 points, seven assists, five rebounds and one steal for Mercyhurst.
 
Slippery Rock returns to the road for a 3 p.m. game Saturday at Edinboro. SRU defeated the Fighting Scots, 76-63, at Morrow Field House earlier in the season and have not lost to the Edinboro since the 2017-18 season: a streak of seven straight games.
 
A win on Saturday officially clinches The Rock's sixth consecutive PSAC Tournament berth.
 
 
 


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).