In need of a win to stay in playoff contention, the Slippery Rock men’s basketball team defeated Gannon University 65-57 Saturday night.
Regardless of playoff seeding, Saturday’s game was the last home game of the season for the Green and White and seven seniors were honored in a pregame ceremony. Seniors Cornelius Brown, Abdul King, Malcolm Richardson, Jamal Gatali, Jordan Grady, Maxx Rynd and Erik Raleigh played their final game at Morrow Fieldhouse.
Brown, a center, dominated Gannon, leading all scorers with a career-high 33 points on 11-15 shooting from the floor and 10-14 shooting from the free-throw line. The points, along with his 15 total rebounds gave Brown his fifth double-double in a row and his 14th of the year.
Richardson scored 10 points and King grabbed 10 boards in the win.
The Rock handily controlled the glass, outrebounding Gannon 43-29. The Green and White were also efficient defensively, holding Gannon to 30 percent shooting while shooting 40 percent themselves.
The Rock improved to a 15-12 record, 10-11 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), and now controls its own postseason destiny moving forward. With a win next Wednesday at the University of Pitt-Johnstown, SRU will clinch either the fifth or sixth seed in the PSAC-West and make the playoffs. With a loss The Rock will drop to the seventh seed and be eliminated.
