After playing two Division I opponents in exhibition games, the Slippery Rock men’s basketball team officially opened the season in Shepherdstown, W. Va. for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)-Mountain East Conference (MEC) Challenge. The Rock faced off against no. 7 Wheeling Jesuit and Shepherd University in The Challenge.
The Rock fell to no. 7-ranked Wheeling Jesuit University by a score of 53-71. Junior Christal Malalu led the team with 13 points and four rebounds in the defeat. Redshirt Junior Khyree Wooten added 11 points and four rebounds for Slippery Rock.
Slippery Rock next played Shepherd University in the team’s second game of the PSAC-MEC Challenge and defeated Shepard by a score of 57-55. Wooten led the team with 15 points in the win, including the game winning bucket with 3.6 seconds left in the game. Senior Naquil Jones added 11 points and five rebounds, while redshirt senior George Chase contributed nine points and 12 rebounds in the Slippery Rock victory.
The Rock finished the weekend 1-1, and other PSAC West schools took the floor on opening weekend.
Edinboro, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), Mercyhurst and Seton Hill all finished the weekend unbeaten. Edinboro defeated Thiel College and IUP won against Lincoln University and Urbana University. Mercyhurst was victorious over Mount Aloysius College and Seton Hill took down Salem International University. Joining Slippery Rock at 1-1 is California University of Pennsylvania (CalU) and Pitt- Johnstown (UPJ).
Cal took down St. Augustine’s University but fell to Virginia State in Petersburg Va. UPJ defeated Lincoln University but fell to Urbana University in games played at IUP. Clarion went 0-2 for the weekend with losses to Fairmont State University and West Virginia Wesleyan College while playing in Fairmont W. Va. Gannon was the only PSAC- West school to not play a game on opening weekend.
Slippery Rock looks to keep the momentum from the Shepard University win into the team’s PSAC opener at Shippensburg University.
Shippensburg went 2-0 during the opening weekend of play. The Rock’s home opener was played Nov. 15 against Ohio University (Eastern) at Morrow Field House.
