It’s not every day that a 27-year-old record gets broken, but that was the case for the Slippery Rock men’s basketball team Wednesday night. Junior forward Brandon Simmons rejected his 69th shot of the year, breaking Kevin Jone’s single-season record from 1991 in the process, but still The Rock fell to Edinboro, 97-87.
Edinboro had its best offensive night of the season and shot the lights out of SRU’s defense. The fighting Scotts ended up shooting 10-16 from beyond the arc and a lethal 25-27 from the free-throw line. Those numbers provided Edinboro with its best shooting percentage in a single game this year, and 97 is their most points in a contest this year.
Despite the Scotts’ accuracy from the line, SRU also had a stellar night from the line, shooting 25-31 (80.6 percent). The Green and White were led at the line by sophomore forward Micah Till, who went a perfect 11-11 and finished with 28 points, and also added five rebounds and blocked three shots.
Senior guard Merdic Green posted his career-best offensive effort with 26 points, but that’s where the bright spots ended for The Rock.
Despite previously controlling their destiny for the second-place slot in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) west, SRU now sits in third place, only a half-game ahead of Edinboro who sits in fourth. Gannon resides a half-game ahead of SRU in second place, but the knights and The Rock will have a showdown next Saturday which may decide the final standings.
Before that happens, however, SRU will have to play a hungry Pitt-Johnstown team that recently clinched a playoff birth, and one that only resides a half-game outside of fourth place and one game outside of SRU’s current third-place position. SRU head coach Kevin Reynolds called Saturday’s contest “a crucial game.”
Tipoff will be at Morrow Field House and is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, February 17th.
