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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team will put its hopes of qualifying for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs on the line Wednesday night with a 7:30 p.m. game on the road at Pitt-Johnstown. The Rock must win their final regular season game to earn a spot in the PSAC playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.
 
GAME 28 DETAILS
• Opponent: University of Pitt-Johnstown
• Date: Feb. 24  |  7:30 p.m.
• Location: Sports Center  |  Johnstown, Pa.
• Live Video: Link
• Live Stats: Link
• All-Time Series: Pitt-Johnstown leads 31-18
• Current Streak: Slippery Rock +1

THE OPENING TIP
• Slippery Rock enters the final game of the regular season with a simple situation - win and get in, lose and go home. A win will guarantee SRU of the No. 5 or No. 6 spot in the Western Division for the PSAC playoffs, while a loss will leave SRU out of the postseason.
• SRU is 15-12 overall and 10-11 in league play.
• Pitt-Johnstown has already locked up a top four position in the upcoming playoffs and with that has earned a home game in round one. The Mountain Cats still have a chance at the No. 3 seed, but would need to beat SRU and have Edinboro lose.
• Pitt-Johnstown enters the game with a 16-10 overall record and a 12-9 mark in league games.
• These two teams needed an overtime session to decide the first meeting of the season. SRU came away with a 72-70 victory at Morrow Field House back on Jan. 20.
• SRU is trying to make its sixth straight appearance in the PSAC playoffs and its seventh in the last eight years. The only year in the tenure of head coach Kevin Reynolds that SRU missed the playoffs was 2009-10, when the team finished with a 15-12 record.
 

THE ROCK	STAT COMPARISON	UPJ
69.9	Points per Game	78.3
66.1	Opp. Points per Game	73.6
+3.7	Scoring Margin	+4.7
43.0	Field Goal Pct.	47.2
39.6	Opp. Field Goal Pct.	44.7
33.7	3-Point Pct.	39.3
30.5	Opp. 3-Point Pct.	36.1
4.7	3-Pointers Made*	8.7
67.5	Free Throw Pct.	76.3
70.1	Opp. Free Throw Pct.	68.8
16.4	Free Throws Made*	14.5
41.0	Rebounds Per Game	34.0
32.3	Opp. Rebounds Per Game	35.2
+8.7	Rebounding Margin	-1.2
10.8	Assists*	17.6
14.7	Turnovers*	13.9
11.5	Opp. Turnovers*	15.0
-3.2	Turnover Margin	+1.1
4.3	Blocked Shots*	2.6
4.7	Steals*	7.3
10-4	Home Record	4-6
5-7	Away Record	9-3
0-1	Neutral Court Record	3-1

* Per game averages
 
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. PITT-JOHNSTOWN
Pitt-Johnstown owns a 31-18 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the 1972-73 season. The majority of those games were played between 1972 and 2004. SRU is 4-1 since UPJ joined the PSAC in 2013.

Most SRU Points Scored................. 122 (1990-91)
Least SRU Points Scored................. 45 (1979-80)
Last SRU Win................. Jan. 20, 2016 at SRU (72-70 in OT)
Most UPJ Points Scored................. 132 (1994-95)
Least UPJ Points Scored................. 56 (Dec. 7, 2013)
Last UPJ Win................. Jan. 31, 2015 at UPJ (77-59)
Average Points Scored by SRU (since 2013)................. 72.8
Average Points Scored by UPJ (since 2013)................. 70.2
 
LAST TIME OUT
Slippery Rock led wire-to-wire in a must-win situation Saturday night to hand Gannon a 65-57 defeat. The Rock's defense held the Golden Knights to just 30.8 percent shooting in the game. Cornelius Brown recorded his fifth straight double-double with a monster night that included a career-high 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 15 rebounds. SRU was +14 in rebounding margin in the win.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Indiana and Mercyhurst have locked up the No.1 and No. 2 seed in the PSAC West. Edinboro and Pitt-Johnstown will be the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, with the order determined after Wednesday night's games. Slippery Rock, Seton Hill and Clarion are all still alive for the final two spots. SRU can lock up one of those spots with a win, regardless of what happens in any other games, but will be eliminated with a loss. A Rock win and a Seton Hill loss to Indiana would make SRU the No. 5 seed, while a Seton Hill win would make SRU the No. 6 seed. If SRU loses, Seton Hill and Clarion would get the final two seeds and SRU would finish the year in the No. 7 spot, losing the tiebreaker.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Cornelius Brown has recorded 14 double-doubles on the year, including one in each of the last five games, and now ranks second in the PSAC and 11th in the country with that figure. He is coming off a pair of huge efforts last week that included a 29-point, 14-rebound effort against Clarion and a 33-point, 15-rebound showing against Gannon.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK... AGAIN
Cornelius Brown was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Week for the second straight week after averaging 31 points and 14.5 rebounds in two games last week. The 29 points against Clarion was a career-high, until he went for 33 against Gannon in the second game of the week.
 
DOMINANT FEBRUARY
Slippery Rock has played six games in the month of February this year and Cornelius Brown has been dominant in all six. So far this month, he has scored 147 points and grabbed 77 rebounds for per game averages of 24.5 points and 12.8 boards. He is also shooting an outstanding 59.2 percent from the floor during that stretch and managed to string together 30 consecutive made free throws over a 2.5 game span.
 
LAST MEETING WITH UPJ
Slippery Rock led by 13 points at halftime and looked poised to run away from Pitt-Johnstown early in the second half, but the Mountain Cats got hot and The Rock went cold down the stretch. UPJ stormed back into the game and took control late with a 31-10 run that lasted just more than 10 minutes. SRU trailed by five points with 1:30 to play, but closed the game on a 5-0 run, including a pair of free throws from Abdul King with five seconds left, to force OT. The teams traded blows in the extra period, but Malcolm Richardson hit a jumper with 12 seconds left that stood as the game-winner after UPJ missed a contested shot in the lane on the other end. Richardson sank one final free throw with one second left to account for the 72-70 final score.
 
ROCK LEADERS
Cornelius Brown has raised his per game averages to 15.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Malcolm Richardson scores 14.4 points and hands out a team-high 3.3 assists per game. Chaquille Pratt scores 10.5 points and grabs 6.7 rebounds per game. Abdul King (7.8 ppg) and Jamal Gatali (7.2 ppg) round out the starters for SRU. Naquil Jones (6.5 ppg), Juwan Strothers (4.7 ppg) and Erik Raleigh (3.8 ppg, 37 blocks) see the most minutes off the bench.
 
HOME vs. AWAY
Slippery Rock is 10-4 at home and 5-8 away from SRU this season. The Rock average 75.1 points and 43.1 rebounds per game at home, nearly 11 points better than on the road. Opponents are scoring 67.7 points per game and recording 31.2 rebounds per game as SRU is +7.4 points and +11.9 rebounds per game at home. A breakdown of The Rock's numbers at home and away from Morrow Field House can be found below.
 

HOME	Stat Category	AWAY
75.1	SRU Points Per Game	64.2
67.7	Opponent Points Per Game	64.5
44.1	SRU FG Percentage	41.6
40.4	Opponent FG Percentage	38.8
43.1	SRU Rebounds Per Game	38.7
31.2	Opponent Rebounds Per Game	33.4
14.2	SRU Turnovers Per Game	15.2
12.4	Opponent Turnovers Per Game	10.5

DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING EDGE
SRU enters the game ranked second in the PSAC in scoring defense, allowing 66.1 points per game. SRU ranks first in the PSAC and ninth in the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 39.6 percent shooting. Slippery Rock is second in the league in rebounding margin (+8.7) and offensive rebounding (14.3 rpg). SRU ranks fourth in the nation in rebounding margin (+8.7), 10th in offensive rebounds per game (14.3) and 17th in the nation in total rebounds (1,107). Brown ranks third in the PSAC total rebounds with 268 and first in offensive boards with 89. Chaquille Pratt is fourth in offensive boards (82).
 
DEFENSE WINNING GAMES
Slippery Rock is 9-1 on the season when holding opponents under 60 points in a game. Seton Hill is the only team to defeat SRU when scoring less than 60 points on the season.
 
CLOSE GAMES
Slippery Rock has lost four games by three points or less and five games by five points or less this season. Seven of The Rock's losses have come by a single digit margin.
 
SCOUTING PITT-JOHNSTOWN
UPJ enters the game scoring 78.3 points per game (#4 in PSAC) and allowing 73.6 points per game (#11 in PSAC) to rank sixth in the league in scoring margin at +4.7 points per game. The Mountain Cats shoot 47.2 percent from the field (#6 in PSAC), 39.3 percent from 3-point (#1 in PSAC) and 76.3 percent at the free throw line (#1 in PSAC). Opponents shoot 44.7 percent from the field (#13 in PSAC) and 36.1 percent from 3-point (#14 in PSAC). A.J. Leahey leads the team at 17.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Nate Snodgrass chips in 14.0 points per game and Dale Clancy adds 13.2 points and 4.4 assists per game. Isaac Vescovi rounds out the four-headed scoring attack at 11.1 points per game. Jake Laravie is the next leading scorer at 5.9 points per game.
 
UP NEXT
A win for Slippery Rock will send the team either to Edinboro or back to Pitt-Johnstown Saturday for the first round of the playoffs. A loss would end the season with a 15-13 record.