CLARION, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team continued its winning ways with a 78-71 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division road victory over Clarion Wednesday inside Tippin Gymnasium.
 
With the win, Slippery Rock improves its record to 12-3 overall and 5-2 in the PSAC. The host Golden Eagles drop to 7-8 overall and 2-5 in league games. Wednesday marked the first of 14 consecutive PSAC West games for SRU, which is now 5-2 in divisional openers under head coach Ian Grady.
 
Slippery Rock was led in the victory by the duo of Dame Givner and Sheick Samoura. Givner continued his stellar freshman season by scoring a game-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds and one steal. Samoura just missed out on a double-double with a 16-point, eight-rebound, two-block, one-steal night.
 
One of the top rookie scorers in all of Division II, Givner has already recorded the 10th most points by a freshman in Slippery Rock program history despite there being a minimum of 13 games to play in the regular season.
 
Samoura, who ranks second in the PSAC in blocks, has averaged 17.7 points per game over The Rock's last three contests.
 
The forward duo of Isaac James (9 points / 10 rebounds) and Kerwin Prince (7 points / 8 rebounds) both nearly posted double-doubles as well. Prince also pocketed a pair of steals.
 
RJ Sledge distributed a team-best four assists all the while scoring nine points and making three steals. Sledge has compiled seven steals in his last two games.
 
Brady Mayo came off the bench to score six points, grab two rebounds and make one steal. Elijah Hill and Mack Staunch added four and three points, respectively, to round out SRU's top contributors.
 
SRU dominated the rebounding battle, finishing with season-highs in both offensive rebounds (21) and rebounding margin (+20, 46-26). The stout work on the offensive glass also resulted in a season-best 27 second chance points.
 
The last time SRU had more than 27 second chance points in a game came against Penn State Fayette (28) on Nov. 17, 2021. You must go back to the 2017-18 season for the last time SRU had more than 27 second chance points against a fellow Division II team – 28 as part of a 72-61 win against Gannon (Jan. 24, 2018).
 
The Rock produced their second best overall shooting performance of the season in the win at 51.7 percent (31-of-60). SRU also shot a solid 36.8 percent (7-for-19) from 3-point territory while overcoming a 9-for-19 (.474) showing at the foul line.
 
The first half was a fast-paced and evenly matched 20 minutes of basketball. After playing to a 19-19 tie in the opening 10 minutes, Slippery Rock went on a 14-3 run over the following four minutes to build a 31-22 advantage with 5:05 showing on the clock. As he did for most of the first half, Givner shouldered much of SRU's offense in the spurt with seven points.
 
Not to be outdone, Clarion countered The Rock's run with one of its own through the remainder of the period as the Golden Eagles scored 17 of final 25 points in the first half to pull the game back into a tie at 39-39 heading into the break.
 
The Rock and Golden Eagles combined to shoot 52.4 percent in the first half including 12 total 3-pointers.
 
Clarion scored the first three points of the second half, but Slippery Rock quickly re-took the lead courtesy of a Samoura 3-pointer. SRU would not trail the rest of the evening.
 
Clarion did manage to tie the game twice in the second half at 52-52 (11:32) and 54-54 (10:35), but Slippery Rock continually had an answer for the upset-minded Golden Eagles. SRU ultimately led for the final 10:10 of regulation, building leads as large as nine points on two separate occasions down the stretch en route to the seven-point victory.  
 
While the Golden Eagles seemed to rarely miss from beyond the arc in the first half, Slippery Rock, which entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in 3-point percentage defense, held Clarion to 3-of-11 shooting from distance in the final 20 minutes.
 
Clarion ended the game shooting 49.1 percent (27-of-55) overall, 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from 3-point range and 38.9 percent (7-of-18) at the foul line. The Golden Eagles did win the turnover battle, forcing SRU into 20 miscues, that were transferred into 19 points off turnovers, while committing 14 of their own.
 
Trey Nelson had 18 points, four assists and two steals to lead Clarion.
 
Slippery Rock remains on the road 3 p.m. Saturday at Pitt-Johnstown. SRU has swept the season series against the Mountain Cats in each of the last two years.





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