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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa – Hosting Slippery Rock University allowed Lock Haven to hang around for the first seven and a half minutes of action Wednesday night, then punched the proverbial pedal and finally engaged cruise control en route to a 74-47 victory in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division men's basketball action in Morrow Field House.
The win was the fifth straight recorded by the Green and White and improved their season records to 17-6 overall, 7-2 in PSAC-West action.
Lock Haven sustained its 12th straight loss and saw its season records drop to 1-18 overall, 0-8 against division rivals.
Senior forward
Maron Brown led the winning attack with a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds, while junior guard
Devin Taylor added 13 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard
Jabril Bailey and junior guard
John Bossle each chipped in nine points.
Anthony Baker scored a team-high 16 points for Lock Haven.
SRU returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday, when it will host archrival Indiana (Pa.) in a battle of teams tied for second place in the PSAC-West standings.
After trailing by a 16-15 score Wednesday, The Rock outscored Lock Haven by a 19-2 margin in the final seven and a half minutes of the first half to take a 36-18 lead into the intermission.
Lock Haven was 1-for-7 from the field and committed seven turnovers in the final 7:30 of the first half, while The Rock made five of nine shots from the floor during that time span.
Both Brown (12 points) and Taylor (11 points) almost singlehandedly matched the guests' team scoring total in the first half.
The Rock finished the half with a 42% (10-24) efficiency on its field goal attempts, but only a 17% (1-6) accuracy from 3-point range.
Both teams made 83% of their free throws in the opening 20 minutes, but The Rock had a 3-to-1 advantage in both attempts (18-6) and shots made (15-5).
Lock Haven shot 30% (6-20) from the field and 11% (1-11) from 3-point range in the first half.
SRU held a 19-11 rebounding advantage at the intermission.
Lock Haven failed to score a point for nine seconds shy of five minutes to open the second half of action as SRU ran off 11 unanswered points to take its largest lead of the game,a 29-point (47-18) advantage with 15:35 left to play.
That capped a 32-2 scoring spurt by the hosts over the span of just less than 12 minutes of action.
The Rock reserves played a majority of the final 15 minutes of the game, but the hosts' lead was never less than 20 points during that time and reached a high-water mark of 28 points on two occasions in the final minutes.
SRU finished the game with a 38% (23-61) efficiency on its field goal attempts, made 29% (4-14) of its long-range shots and canned 71% (25-35) of its free throws.
Lock Haven, meanwhile, shot 30% (14-47) from the field, 22% (5-23) from 3-point range and 74% (14-19) from the foul line.
A total of 45 personal fouls and two technical fouls were called in the game.
SRU dominated the rebounding battle by a 52-30 margin and also committed less turnovers, 24-17. The Rock converted Lock Haven mistakes into 25 points, while the Bald Eagles turned SRU miscues into 17 points.
The Rock outscored LHU by a 32-8 margin “in the paint” and held a 27-25 edge in points “off the bench.”
Notes:
Following Saturday's game vs. Indiana, The Rock embarks on a three-game road trip before closing out its regular-season schedule with a Feb. 26 home game vs. Edinboro (3 p.m. tipoff).