SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team saw its eight-game home winning streak come to an end Saturday in an 84-76 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference loss to East Stroudsburg University at Morrow Field House.
 
Despite the loss, The Rock will enter the PSAC West portion of their schedule with a healthy 11-3 overall record including a 4-2 mark in the conference competition. East Stroudsburg snapped a three-game losing streak with the win, improving to 8-4 overall and 2-4 in league games.
 
Fresh off a career-high point total in Friday's win over Bloomsburg, Sheick Samoura once again led all scorers with 18 points to go with four rebounds, one steal and one block. Samoura went 5-for-13 from the field overall, 2-of-5 from 3-point range and 6-for-8 at the foul line.
 
Elijah Hill racked up his third double-double of the season after battling his way inside to 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting in addition to grabbing 11 rebounds, passing out two assists and coming up with one steal. Five of Hill's rebounds came on the offensive glass.
 
RJ Sledge tallied 14 points all the while making a season-best four steals. Fellow freshmen Brady Mayo (11) and Dame Givner (10) finished in double figures as well with each also pocketing one steal.
 
Kerwin Prince came off the bench to tally his second-highest rebounding total of the season with nine. He also scored six points and compiled three steals.
 
SRU was limited to its second worst overall shooting performance of the season Saturday at 41.4 percent (12-of-29). The Rock also converted just 65.4 percent (17-for-26) of its foul shots. While SRU held a +8 (41-33) rebounding margin, a near constant Warrior press resulted in Slippery Rock committing 22 turnovers while forcing 15 East Stroudsburg miscues.
 
ESU left Morrow Field House shooting 49.1 percent (28-for-57) overall and 73.3 percent (22-for-30) at the foul line. The Warriors scored 27 points off SRU's turnovers.
 
East Stroudsburg jumped out to a 16-point lead at 32-16 as SRU missed 11 of its first 16 field goal attempts while making 10 turnovers over the opening 13 minutes of regulation.
 
To their credit, The Rock persevered through the early struggles to finish the opening half on a 19-10 run which cut their deficit to just 42-35 heading into the halftime break. Hill and Samoura combined for 13 points in the late spurt, including a buzzer-beater 3-pointer by Samoura.
 
However, Slippery Rock could never completely dig itself out of the first-half hole. While SRU cut East Stroudsburg's lead down to as little as four points midway through the second half, the Warriors ultimately fended off the comeback bid for the eight-point road victory.
 
Adrian Brito just missed out on a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds and Carson Howard scored 16 points to lead ESU.
 
Slippery Rock now turns its attention to PSAC West competition starting with a road game 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at Clarion. The Rock and Golden Eagles split the season series last year with each team winning on their home court.




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