ERIE, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team lost a close back-and-forth Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division road game against No. 7 Gannon University Wednesday, 94-91.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 11-12 overall and 9-8 in PSAC competition while the nationally ranked Golden Knights improve to 22-2 overall and 16-2 in league games. Wednesday's game caps off the regular season series between the two teams with Gannon coming away with both victories by a combined margin of just eight points.
 
Despite the loss, Slippery Rock still occupies fourth place in the PSAC West standings with five games to play in the regular season. SRU enters Saturday's home game against Pitt-Johnstown with a one-game advantage over both Seton Hill (8-9) and Mercyhurst (8-9) as well as a 3.5 game lead on Edinboro.
 
The top six teams in both the Western Division and Eastern Division standings at the end of the regular season qualify for the PSAC Tournament with the top two seeds in each division receiving first-round byes and the No. 3 and No. 4 squads earning the right to host opening-round games.
 
Jomo Goings led five Rock players in double figures following a career night in which the redshirt sophomore guard scored a personal-best 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field overall including a 5-of-6 showing from 3-point range. In addition to his game-high point total, Goings also contributed six rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists.
 
Sheick Samoura played arguably his best game to date in a Slippery Rock uniform, resulting in 17 points, five rebounds and a multitude of contested shots on defense.
 
Maceo Austin turned in a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double effort while Luke Howes and Ike Herster chipped in 14 and 11 points, respectively, with Herster dishing out four assists and Howes accounting for one steal.
 
Bobby Clifford came off the bench to score seven points and Lashon Lindsey battled through foul trouble for the majority of the night before finishing with two points, four rebounds and a steal.
 
The first half of Wednesday's game was divided by matching big runs from the two evenly matched teams.
 
Slippery Rock came out hot, scoring the game's first nine points and building an 18-point lead midway through the period. Not to be outdone, Gannon closed the half by forcing SRU into 10 turnovers over the remainder of the half and closing the period on a 41-16 run to take a seven-point advantage of 56-49 into the halftime break.
 
The Golden Knights appeared poised to blow the game open early in the second half after growing their lead out to 67-56 only for The Rock to answer back by accounting for 17 of the next 23 points to bring the game into a 73-73 tie with 9:51 left in regulation.
 
Goings and Samoura combined for 10 points over The Rock's spurt.
 
The remainder of the game saw SRU and Gannon trade baskets with neither team leading by more than six points the rest of the way. A dunk from Lindsey pulled The Rock to within one point of Gannon at 92-91 with 14 seconds left in regulation.
 
However, Slippery Rock was ultimately unable to complete its comeback bid as Gannon closed the game by converting a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession after Lindsey's basket followed by a game-ending SRU turnover with six seconds to play on the potential game-tying possession.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock registered one of its most efficient shooting performances of the season in the form of a 53.3 (32-of-60) overall field goal percentage alongside a 47.6 percent (10-of-21) outing from distance and a 70.8 percent (17-of-24) effort at the foul line.
 
However, Slippery Rock did commit 22 turnovers which Gannon was able to convert into 33 points. GU also scored 18 second chance points off as many offensive rebounds. The Golden Knights shot 44 percent (33-for-75) from the field, 41.2 percent (7-for-17) from 3-point range and 80.8 percent (21-for-26) at the foul line.
 
Josh Omojafo and Mike Montano led Gannon in the win. Omojafo scored 22 points and Montano had a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double.
 
Slippery Rock plays three of its final five games of the regular season at Morrow Field House starting with a 3 p.m. Saturday showdown with Pitt-Johnstown. SRU is 9-1 in home games this season.





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