Slippery Rock University Athletics

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team opened the 2026-27 Atlantic Region Challenge Friday at Morrow Field House with an 88-82 non-conference loss to Davis & Elkins College.
 
The loss moves The Rock's record to 1-1 in the early stages of the season, while the Senators picked up the season-opening win.
 
Brady Mayo scored a career-high 23 points to go with four assists and a steal to pace The Rock's efforts Friday. Mayo went 7-for-14 from the field overall, 4-for-9 from 3-point range and 5-of-6 at the foul line.
 
After being held scoreless in SRU's season-opening win over Lincoln University, Nick DelGratta bounced back with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double that included one block and one steal. Seven of his 10 rebounds were on the offensive glass.
 
Elijah Hill just missed out on a double-double of his own, finishing with 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. In addition to scoring 10 points, RJ Sledge matched his career-high in steals with four.
 
Other top performers for The Rock included Braylon Littlejohn (nine points), Rashad McCormick (four points, five rebounds, one steal) and Marlon Barnes Jr. (four points, four rebounds, three assists, one block).
 
For the game, Slippery Rock shot 44.8 percent (30-of-67) overall, 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from 3-point range and 65.4 percent (17-of-26) at the foul line. SRU held a +3 (38-35) rebounding margin and committed two less turnovers (12-14) than D&E in addition to turning 19 offensive rebounds into 27 second chance points.
 
However, Davis & Elkins shot 53.2 percent (33-of-62) from the field overall despite going just 7-of-21 (.333) from 3-point range. D&E also converted 78.9 percent (15-for-19) from the foul line.

Slippery Rock appeared poised to put the game out of reach early as it jumped out to a 20-6 lead and played its way to a 15-point, 30-15, advantage 10 minutes into regulation only for Davis & Elkins to counter by scoring 33 of next 43 points in the game to take a 48-40 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Senators continued to grow their lead in the second half, reaching a game-high 17-points (77-60) with 8:56 to play in regulation. Undeterred by the sizable deficit, Slippery Rock battled back with a frantic 20-4 spurt over the next six minutes, pulling to within one point of D&E at 81-80 and 2:17 to showing on the clock.
 
Mayo spearheaded the run with eight points, while a Hill free throw made it a one-point contest.
 
However, SRU couldn't quite complete the comeback bid as Davis & Elkins eventually hit a 3-pointer to stretch its lead back out to four points to help stave off The Rock's charge in the eventual six-point win.
 
Darrius Roach (26) and Joey Brown (21) both eclipsed the 20-point plateau to lead Davis & Elkins.
 
Slippery Rock returns to competition on day two of the Atlantic Region Challenge 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Bluefield State University at Morrow Field House.





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