JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team snapped its four-game losing streak in impressive fashion Saturday with a commanding 84-64 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory at Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Saturday's victory was an important one for The Rock. In addition to improving its overall record to 12-13, SRU is now 8-9 in PSAC competition.
 
Slippery Rock sits alone in fourth place in the PSAC West standings with three contests remaining in the regular season, a half game in front of Seton Hill (7-9), a full game ahead of Pitt-Johnstown (7-10) and 1.5 games better than Indiana (Pa.) (6-10). The top six teams in the PSAC West standings at the end of the regular season qualify for the conference tournament.
 
Maceo Austin and Jomo Goings spearheaded The Rock's attack with a pair of great all-around efforts. The duo combined to score 51 points with both finishing the game a point shy of their respective career-highs.
 
Austin exited the win with 26 points, seven rebounds, six steals, four assists and one block. He shot an efficient 9-of-13 from the field overall, 3-for-4 from 3-point range and 5-of-6 at the foul line.
 
Not to be outdone, Goings went for 25 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block. Goings' big effort resulted in the redshirt junior climbing several spots in various SRU career statistical records. He now ranks ninth in program history for steals (127), 24th in assists (164) and 25th in scoring (1,037).
 
Fellow starters Luke Howes and Day Waters both finished in double figures as well. Howes supplied Slippery Rock with 14 points and two steals while Waters added 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
In his fourth start of the season, Michael Moore blocked a season-high four shots, scored four points and collected two steals.  
 
Not only did The Rock shoot 46.2 percent (30-of-65) from the field and a stellar 81 percent (17-of-21) at the foul line Saturday, SRU also forced Pitt-Johnstown into 21 turnovers in addition to pocketing 16 steals, blocking six shots and holding a +2 rebounding margin (35-33).  
 
Slippery Rock's 16 steals is the fifth highest single-game total in program history.
 
Additionally, SRU scored 24 points off turnovers and ran its way to 21 fastbreak points. Saturday marked the eighth time this year in which The Rock have tallied at least 20 points off turnovers as well as being the sixth occasion they've reached 20 fastbreak points.
 
Slippery Rock wasted little time establishing its dominance over the Mountain Cats as SRU scored the game's opening 10 points before taking a 16-2 lead into the first media timeout (15:22).
 
Goings and Austin combined for 14 points over the opening run with The Rock connecting on six of their first seven field goal attempts as a team.
 
SRU stayed hot through the remainder of the first half, pushing its lead to 22 points going into the break courtesy of a corner 3-pointer from Austin that sent The Rock into halftime leading 45-23.
 
Slippery Rock shot 47.2 percent over the first 20 minutes of regulation while holding Pitt-Johnstown to a 9-of-27 (.333) performance. SRU also forced 11 Pitt-Johnstown turnovers in the first half.
 
In contrast to the last time Slippery Rock held a lead of at least 20 points – an eventual 86-73 loss to California on Feb. 8 - SRU kept in complete control for a full 40 minutes to finish off Saturday's win.
 
While the Mountain Cats did briefly cut their deficit down to 15 points with 5:44 to play, a serious comeback threat never truly materialized as The Rock held off Pitt-Johnstown down the stretch for the eventual 20-point decision.
 
Pitt-Johnstown ended the night shooting 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field overall, 36.4 percent (4-of-11) from 3-point range and 76.9 percent (10-of-13) at the foul line. Jay Rose came off the bench to compile 19 points, eight rebounds and two steals for UPJ.
 
Slippery Rock continues its push towards the PSAC Tournament when it hosts Clarion 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Morrow Field House on Senior Day.
 
 



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