Slippery Rock men’s basketball snagged their first road win of the season on Sunday against D’Youville University. Not only did the team walk away with a victory, but six players finished in double digits. Brady Mayo and Elijah Hill led the charge, both tallying 16 points throughout the game.
Mayo and Hill, both freshmen, have combined for 130 points in the season in roughly 150 minutes of game time.
The Rock opened the scoring in the first minute when Ike Herster delivered a layup.
Trayton Trice quickly retaliated just seconds later with a layup for the Saints.
The White and Green then went on a 13-point run, eight of those coming from Mayo.
A shot in the paint from Dawson Matsell ended the dry spell for D’Youville. Three free throws and a layup followed, all within the same minute. The Saints still had a four-point deficit when SRU landed three more baskets, extending their lead to 21-11.
Despite their best efforts, D’Youville only managed to find the lead twice. Four layups, a set of free throws and three-pointers, and a jumper put them ahead by one.
That advantage was short-lived when Herster knocked down a three-pointer, reclaiming the lead 31-29.
With 42 seconds left in the first half, a layup came for the Saints, erasing the deficit.
Mayo answered quickly, closing out the half with a jumper.
The Rock took a 33-32 advantage heading into the locker room.
In the first 11 seconds of the second half, Hill knocked down a basket from inside the paint.
Sean Reynolds responded with a jumper, shrinking the gap to one. That was the last time the Saints got that close to The Rock for the remainder of the game.
Dame Givner solidified the White and Green’s lead with two jumpers in under a minute.
The freshman has compiled 84 points in the season so far and has started every game.
Despite the lead, Slippery Rock continued to apply pressure, limiting D’Youville’s shooting percentage to 37.1 overall. The Saints attempted 15 more free throws, but they could only convert 60 percent from the foul line.
The remainder of The Rock’s points mainly came from layups. 16 of their final 42 points came from within the paint.
D’Youville managed to keep the deficit under 20 points.
Their efforts fell short, and Slippery Rock claimed the lead 85-68.
The team returns to their home court for a non-conference game Thursday against Lincoln University. So far in the season, SRU remains undefeated at home games.
