Final statistics

NYACK, N.Y. – Senior forwardMaron Brown scored a game-high 24 points Saturday afternoon to lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to its fourth straight win, a 78-68 triumph over Nyack College, in second-day action of the Nyack Tournament.

Brown also tied with teammate Jabril Bailey for game-high rebounding honors as each Rock senior snared nine caroms.

Brown was one of three Rock players who finished the game with double-digit scoring totals. Junior guard Tommy Kelly scored a career-high 15 points in a substitute role while junior guard Jon Valeriano chipped in 11 points. Bailey finished one point shy of a double-digit scoring total with nine points.

The Rock finished the game with a very respectable 50% (31-62) efficiency on field goal attempts, nailed 36.8% (7-19) from behind the 3-point arc and sank 56.3% (9-16) of their free throw opportunities.

Behind the lead of Bailey and Brown, SRU also held a commanding 48-35 rebounding advantage but was on the high side of a 17-11 turnover comparison.

Nyack (1-7) made 36.6% (26-71) of its field goal attempts,s hot 35.1% (13-37) from behind the arc and sank 50% (3-6) of its charity tosses.

Unlike in the win over Dominican (N.Y.) the previous night, The Rock held the lead for pretty much the whole game Saturday. Nyack took its first lead of the game at 14-13 with 12:45 left in the first half of action and remained in front until SRU scored eight unanswered points to take a 23-17 lead with 9:40 left.

The Rock held an eight-point (44-36) advantage at halftime and scored the first six second-half points (two baskets by Brown, one by Bailey) to take a 14-point (50-36) lead with 17:15 left in the game.

Nyack then went on an 11-0 run to trim the margin to three points, 50-47, with 13:00 left before SRU scored 11 of the next 14 points to push the difference to 11 points (61-50) with 8:35 remaining.

SRU never led by less than seven points in the final minutes of the game.

The Rock returns to action next Saturday, when they will play their fourth straight road game, a 3 p.m. date with Seton Hill University in Greensburg.

The Green and White close out the road trip with a Dec. 19 game at Penn State Wilkes Barre, then take a 10-day hiatus before hosting Ohio University Eastern in a 3 p.m. game Dec. 29 in Morrow Field House. There will be no admission charge for that game.

SRU then closes out the 2010 portion of its schedule with a 7 p.m. game Dec. 30 vs. backyard rival Grove City College.

Notes:

Rock Head Coach Kevin Reynolds now has the second-highest win total by a Rock men's basketball coach in his first three seasons. He trails school-recordholder Mel Hankinson (1970-73) by 10 victories ... Reynolds, who set the school record for wins by a Rock coach in his first (21) and second seasons (36) is one win away from moving into a tie with Doug Zimmerman (1975-79) for 10th on SRU's career wins chart ... Brown improved his three-year career rebounding total to 597, the 15th highest total in Rock history. He needs 20 caroms to move into a tie for 14th place ... Brown is 148 points away from becoming the 20th player in Rock men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points.