Slippery Rock men’s basketball traveled to the JMA Wireless Dome in Upstate New York on Wednesday night, Oct. 30 to take on the Syracuse Orange for The Rock’s only exhibition game before the seasons official start.
The exhibition matchup was the second and final for the Orange before they start their season against Le Moyne University next Monday. The Orange cruised past Clarion University 101-73 in their first exhibition last Saturday.
Jomo Goings led The Rock with 17 points, 10 rebounds and picked up four steals along the way. Day Waters, a transfer from Millersville, was the other Rock player scoring in double figures with 11 points.
Chris Bell led Cuse’ in scoring with 17 points, including five three-point baskets. Donnie Freeman, Jyare Davis, Elijah Moore, and Kyle Cuffe Jr. also eclipsed double digits in scoring for the Orange.
The Rock took a 2-0 lead against their Division Ⅰ foe with free throws from Waters less than a minute into the game. SU tied the game on the next possession on a jumper from five-star freshman Donnie Freeman and did not look back.
SRU kept the game close for most of the first half, cutting the SU lead to four at 22-18. Then the Orange took flight and went on a 29-6 run to end the first half.
The second half saw some new faces, but the same results. Syracuse scored 10 straight points out of the break, until that run was stopped by five Sheick Samoura free throws.
Ultimately, the Orange’s three-point prowess was too much for The Rock, as Syracuse made 15 three-points jumpers on 32 attempts. Syracuse also shot 50% overall from the field.
Credit must also be given to Syracuse’s defense as The Rock struggled shooting the ball. SRU shot 22% from the field overall and 11% from three-point range.
Slippery Rock starts their season on Friday and Saturday, as they host the Atlantic Region Challenge. The Rock will play Shaw University and Virginia Union University.
