Just a few days after a trip to Erie, in which The Rock clinched a spot in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament, Gannon University made the journey to Morrow Field House to try to get revenge on the Green and White. The Golden Knights came in trying to avoid dropping to .500, while The Rock tried to continue their winning streak.
It seemed from the start The Rock had control of the game. Gannon had the lead only three times and all came within the first five and a half minutes of the game. Despite the efforts of Demetrius Mims and Lance-Amir Paul in the first half, Amante Britt and Jonathon McFall helped the Rock take a 34-30 lead into the half.
The second half would prove to be much closer than The Rock had anticipated. Once again it would be Mims making the push to help try and bring the Golden Knights back into the game, but any time they made an advance, The Rock would pull away just enough.
But after taking a nine point lead with just nine minutes left, Gannon had a comeback attempt that cut the game to just two points.
“I didn’t think we played necessarily well, and we can’t finish games down the stretch like that,” coach Ian Grady said.
In the final minute, Gannon cut the lead to one score four times. After a missed free throw from Frankie Hughes, Tyler Frederick came up big with an offensive rebound to seal the game for The Rock.
“They’re a good team, they deserve some credit obviously, but we’ve talked about this internally, when we get a lead, we need to be able to consistently play and separate that lead,” Grady said.
The Rock returns to action on Monday at California University of Pennsylvania (Cal-U), where they’ll look to continue their winning streak. They return home Wednesday for senior night against Edinboro University at Morrow Field House for the final time this season.
“We’re at four in a row, and we hit that skid a few weeks ago, but we think we’re back on track,” Grady said. “We still have some things to work on like everyone does, and that was evident tonight, but I hope the momentum rolls into senior night.”
