Men's basketball splits home stand

Senior forward Devin Taylor scored a game-high 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Slippery Rock men's basketball team past Kutztown University 80-68 on Sunday afternoon at Morrow Field House.

The Rock (4-2 overall, 2-2 PSAC) was led by Taylor, who was only one rebound short of his fourth double-double of the season.

Sophomore forward Tabari Perry scored 14 points and had nine rebounds, while junior guard Aubin Reeves had 12 points.

Junior guard John Bayardelle added eight points, seven rebounds, and six assists to the winning effort.

The Rock made 55 percent (34-62) of their shots from the field, 5-15 shots from 3-point range, and 7-14 free throws. Kutztown made 32 percent (19-60) of their field-goal attempts, 4-21 3-pointers, and 87 percent (26-30) from the foul line.  

SRU had 23 fouls compared to Kutztown's 14 fouls. The Golden Bears had a 30-14 advantage in free throw opportunities. The Rock held a 41-33 advantage in rebounding, but also had more turnovers compared to Kutztown, 12-9.

The Rock scored the first four points of the first half and held the lead until Kutztown tied the score at 14-14 with 13 minutes left in the half.

Kutztown took their only lead of the game, 20-19, with 11 minutes left before halftime, only to have the lead stolen by SRU on a shot by Bayerdelle only 15 seconds later, which put the home team back on top.

SRU scored the first six points of the half to put them up 48-34 within the first two minutes. With 9:30 left in the game, SRU had their highest lead of the game with a 16 point, 64-48, advantage.  

Kutztown never cut the deficit closer than nine points for the remainder of the game.

On Saturday, the visiting East Stroudsburg University men's basketball team stole the lead with 5:22 left in the first half and never looked back as they went on to beat Slippery Rock, 64-55 in PSAC action at Morrow Field House.

The Rock was led by the efforts of Taylor, who recorded his third double-double of the season, tallying 13 points and 14 rebounds in the losing effort.

Reeves and junior center Luiz Santos each added 10 points apiece for the Rock. Reeves also contributed six rebounds, while Santos pulled down an additional five boards.

Bayardelle dished out six assists and Perry snagged an additional five rebounds in the loss for SRU.

The Rock finished the game shooting 36 percent (21-59) from the field, 4-16 3-pointers, and 79 percent (11-14) free throws. SRU held a 44-43 advantage over ESU in rebounding, and had nearly twice as many turnovers (19-10).

The score of the game was tied on three occasions and the lead was swapped three times in the first six and a half minutes of the first half.  SRU went on an 11-4 scoring run to set them up 18-11 with 8:30 left in the half.  

The Warriors fought back with a 16-4 scoring run to take a 27-22 lead with four minutes left until halftime. ESU went into intermission with a 34-27, seven-point lead over the Rock.   

Coming back from the half, East Stroudsburg took their first double-digit lead of the game with a 44-33 advantage with 15 minutes left of play. SRU battled back, though, and cut the lead to two points, 50-48, on a dunk from Taylor halfway through the final half.

However, SRU came up short as they fell to the Warriors, 64-55 at the final buzzer.

Taylor said that their loss on Saturday motivated them to play harder and get the win on Sunday.

"Saturday's loss came because of our mental mistakes, turnovers and not being aggressive," Taylor said. "We were challenged by coach Reynolds and we responded well by playing better defense, making plays unselfishly and playing aggressive. Sunday's win gives us a lot of confidence going into this weekend's games."

The Rock will be back in action as they visit PSAC Eastern Division leader Bloomsburg (7-1, 4-0 PSAC) tonight at 7:30, and then travel to Mansfield University (2-3, 1-3 PSAC) for a 4 p.m. game tomorrow afternoon.