The Slippery Rock men’s basketball team faced off against Edinboro University on Wednesday night in a critical Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) game, looking to clinch a spot in the PSAC tournament. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and secured their spot in the bracket.
From the opening tip, the emphasis was on defense and second-chance points. In a slow offensive first half, the White and Green outrebounded Edinboro 25-11 before the break, and 47-30 throughout the entirety of the contest.
When asked about the defense rising to the occasion, head coach Ian Grady said, “We emphasize rebounding every day in practice from August on. And we knew coming into the game we had to dominate that side of the thing, and that really is the key to every game we play. Usually, when we’re dominant on the glass like that, we are in the victory circle.”
Leading the way was Mack Staunch, who set a season-high of 11 rebounds during the night, accompanied by six points in just 22 minutes off the bench.
Coming into the second half, SRU was firing on all cylinders, hitting shots, forcing steals, playing fundamentally-sound defense.
The big message was to prevent turning the ball over, which coach Grady emphasized in the locker room at the break.
“Stop turning the ball over. We had 11 turnovers at halftime. We were executing our game plan other than that on both sides of the ball, and we needed to defend the 3-point line a little bit better defensively,” Grady said.
The adjustment paid off. The Rock committed just four turnovers in the second half and help the Fighting Scots to 4-for-20 shooting from the three-point line and 9-for-35 overall.
Slippery Rock rounded out the night with a 73-63 victory, clinching a PSAC tournament spot. Freshman Brady Mayo led the way with 22 points, with Braylon Littlejohn and Kerwin Prince also having double digit nights. Coach Grady admired the work Mayo has put in all season, and the fire that he plays with day in and day out.
Despite the clinched playoff games, Grady made it evident that this win will not change the mindset heading into their regular season finale. The Rock will be on the road Saturday to play against California University (Pa).
