SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team overcame a slow start to beat Seton Hill University, 73-61, Friday at Morrow Field House and in the process stretched its winning streak to six games
 
With the win, Slippery Rock improves its record to 8-6 overall and 5-2 inside the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference while the visiting Griffins leave SRU at 9-6 overall and 2-5 in league competition.
 
The Rock's current six-game winning streak is the program's fifth winning streak of at least six games during head coach Ian Grady's seven-year tenure. SRU has won six consecutive games four times under Grady in addition to a 12-game winning streak in 2018-19.
 
Additionally, SRU has also now won 13 of its last 16 games against the Griffins including two consecutive wins over SHU at Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock featured a balanced offensive attack Friday in which six of the eight players who saw playing time scored at least eight points including five which finished in double figures.
 
Maceo Austin paced the pack with a 15-point, five-rebound, three steal, one-block effort while the duo of Jomo Goings and Luke Howes registered 13 points apiece. Goings also tallied seven rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal.
 
Ike Herster added 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Bobby Clifford came off the bench to provide The Rock with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals. Day Waters rounded out SRU's top performers with eight points, four rebounds and a pair of steals as well.

Defensively, SRU held the Griffins to the second-lowest point total by a Rock opponent this year behind only a 56-point showing by West Virginia Wesleyan on Dec. 2 – the start of Slippery Rock's current winning streak.
 
Slippery Rock, which committed just 14 miscues of its own in the win, forced Seton Hill into 22 turnovers that translated into 18 points. SRU has now scored at least 18 points off turnovers in every leg of its current stretch of consecutive victories.
 
As a team, The Rock shot 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the field overall, 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from 3-point range and 56.3 percent (9-of-16) at the foul line.
 
Despite Seton Hill possessing a +5 (37-32) rebounding margin overall, SRU was able to pull in 10 offensive rebounds which ultimately resulted in a near season-high 16 second chance points.

Already trailing 34-28 coming out of the halftime break, Slippery Rock saw its deficit grow to a game-high nine points one minute into the second half before mounting a comeback over the next five minutes in the form of a 16-6 run to pull ahead of the Griffins at 44-43 with 13:22 left in regulation.  
 
Five Rock athletes scored over the big run including Austin with five of his game-high point total and three from Waters, who capped off the spurt with a trifecta of successful foul shots.
 
The following four minutes saw SRU and SHU trade baskets, but The Rock put the game out of reach when they turned a one-point lead at the 9:32 mark in the period into an eight-point (60-52) advantage with five minutes to play. 
 
Slippery Rock went on to stretch its lead out to as many as 14 points before a last-second uncontested layup by Seton Hill cut the Griffins' margin of defeat to 12 points, one shy of matching its largest setback of the year, as time expired.
 
After making just 12-of-34 field goal attempts in the first half, Slippery Rock closed out the PSAC West victory by converting 53.6 percent of its second half field goal attempts (15-of-28) including a 6-for-13 effort from 3-point range in the final 20 minutes. 13 of Austin's 15 points came in the second half.
 
The Griffins, which shot 46 percent (23-of-50) from the field overall including a 5-of-14 mark from 3-point range, were led by Edir Ortiz's 16-point, seven-rebound performance.
 
Slippery Rock closes out its two-game PSAC West homestand 7:30 p.m. Jan. 6 against Pitt-Johnstown at Morrow Field House.
 
A victory over the Mountain Cats would serve as the 24th winning streak of at least seven games in The Rock's 114-year history and just the seventh such streak in the modern era (post 1986-87 when the 3-point line was adopted by the NCAA).



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