Jomo Goings and Maceo Austin scored over 25 points apiece en route to an opening night 81-74 victory over Shaw University at Morrow Field House earlier today.
Austin scored the first points of Slippery Rock’s regular season on a two-point jumper and they got out to a 17-11 lead just over 10 minutes in, but Shaw bounced back with 11 unanswered points.
The Bears took a 28-26 advantage into the break, partially due to getting the better of The Rock from behind the arc, sinking six triples to Slippery Rock’s zero during the front 20 minutes.
It was back-and-forth after the break, but a Goings free throw knotted the game at 36. The Rock then took a 38-36 lead on an Austin layup with just under 15 minutes remaining, and kept the advantage the rest of the way.
Shaw managed to keep it close throughout, but their scoring stalled just enough and momentum started to become one sided when Goings slammed a dunk with less than a minute to play and put SRU up 77-70.
“A lot of the guys made some really good plays down the stretch. I think there were several good reads and good plays that we made,” head coach Ian Grady said. “We made the plays when we had to, so I’m proud of the guys for that.”
The Bears brought the game back within five and had scoring opportunities within the final 30 seconds, but it quickly turned into intentional fouls where Austin and Day Waters put the game away.
The Rock’s ability to score off turnovers and make shots from the free-throw line kept them in the game early and helped them eventually take and retain the lead.
SRU totaled 30 points off turnovers to Shaw’s 20 by the time the clock hit all zeroes.
The White and Green shot 85.7% on free throws in the first half to Shaw’s 50%. While the Bears improved that mark in the second half, The Rock drew closer to perfection and finished the game shooting 92%.
“We’ve talked about it throughout the preseason, but at halftime we really wanted to focus on that,” Grady said. “Our jump shots weren’t falling from the outside so we wanted to get the ball moving more so we could open up gaps to penetrate in and try to attack the rim more.”
Goings finished with 26 points and Austin with 25, the two best totals for The Rock on the evening.
“The ball can find its way to them and they were pretty aggressive, both of them were pretty aggressive from the start of the game to finish. Not just attacking the ball but rebounding as well,” Grady said.
Grady noted how the aggressive play-style created opportunities for the two, given Shaw’s defensive design.
“When the other team is playing a lot of zone, the ball can find certain people, and the guys that are making the aggressive plays are usually the ones that end up with that type of usage,” Grady said.
Both players came up big in the free throw advantage as well. Goings made all 16 of his attempts and Austin made nine of his 10. SRU had three players who were perfect on their free throws with over five attempts. After Goings, both Ike Herster and Luke Howes were six-for-six.
Goings represented all over the stat sheet, also leading his team in rebounds with 14, steals with five and blocks with three.
The win was the first of four out-of-conference games for Slippery Rock before they begin their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) schedule. They have more time to tune up, but it is still important to start off on the right foot.
“You’ll take a win any day of the week, and to start out first game with a win is big for us. Having the home games here, we were counting on that,” Grady said.
The Rock men’s basketball gets back on the court against Virginia Union University tomorrow for a 7 p.m. matchup at Morrow Field House.
