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Notes, live coverage available for NCAA opener

Game notes and links for live video, live audio and live statistics are now avialble for Slippery Rock's first round NCAA tournament game against No. 1 West Liberty. Tip is set for 6 p.m. at Saturday at West Liberty.

Live Video  |  Live Audio Live Statistics  |  SRU Game Notes  |  Tourney Homepage

WEST LIBERTY, W. Va. -- The Rock will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division II tournament since 1991 when they take on top-ranked and unbeaten (29-0) West Liberty University in an Atlantic Regional quarterfinal game on the Hilltoppers' home court Saturday at 6 p.m. Game notes and live coverage options are available.

Live Coverage:
Free live video, audio and statistics will be available for the game at the links provided above. The West Liberty sports information office will provide the live statistics, while the campus TV crew will provide video. The SRU sports information office will provide a live Internet audio broadcast. Assistant SID Jon Holtz will call the play-by-play and Patrick Ross will provide color commentary.

Seeding:
SRU is the No. 8 seed in this year's eight-team Atlantic Regional, while West Liberty is the top seed. Indiana, Pa. (24-5) is the No. 2 seed, followed in order by Bowie State, Md. (22-5), Shaw, N.C. (22-8), Winston-Salem, N.C. (19-7), Mansfield, Pa. (18-9), West Virginia Wesleyan (19-10) and The Rock (21-10).

Schedule: The Rock-West Liberty game will be the third of four quarterfinal games played Saturday. The opening game of the tournament will pit Bowie State against Mansfield in a noon tipoff, followed at 2:30 p.m. by the Indiana vs. West Virginia Wesleyan contest. The fourth and final game of the day is set for 8:30 p.m. and will pit Shaw against Winston-Salem State.

Saturday's Game 1 and Game 2 winners return at 5 p.m. Sunday for a semifinal game, with the Game 3 (Rock-West Liberty) and Game 4 (Shaw–Winston-Salem) winners butting heads at 7:30 p.m. The winners of Sunday's games advance to the regional final, which is set to tip off at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

How They Got Here: The Rock is one of five teams that earned an at-large berth into the Atlantic Regional tournament. West Liberty, Indiana and Shaw earned automatic qualifier berths by virtue of their championship efforts in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournaments, respectively.

SRU cashed its ticket to the NCAA tournament by knocking off Mercyhurst College and Cheyney University, the No. 4 and No. 9 teams in the March 2 regional poll, and advancing to the PSAC championship game last Saturday.

NCAA Tournament Numbers: The Rock owns a 2-4 all-time record in NCAA postseason competition and a 1-3 mark in the Division II tournament. SRU's only win in the Division II tournament came in 1991 and was a 119-101 win over Shippensburg in a consolation game. SRU reached the Division III tournament in 1978 and won its first round game, 70-65, over Scranton. The Rock was close in each of its two first round games in the Division II tournament, but lost 99-98 in overtime to East Stroudsburg in 1990 and 70-66 to C. W. Post in 1991.

Scouting The Rock: SRU averages 72.9 points per game on offense and allows foes 65.8 ppg. Senior forward Maron Brown leads the team in both scoring (18.0 ppg) and rebounding (10.3 per game), while senior guard Jabril Bailey adds 15.2 points and 5.9 rebounds and junior guard Devin Taylor chips in 12.2 points and 6.5 rebounds. Junior guard Jon Valeriano hands out 3.7 assists per game. Bailey leads the team in 3-point baskets with 36 while Valeriano and junior guard Tommy Kelly have each knocked down 23 treys.

Scouting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty averages 112.6 points per game on offense while allowing opponents 79.9 ppg for a +32.7 ppg scoring margin. WLU has been held to less than 100 points only seven times this winter and under 90 points in only four games. The Hilltoppers feature six players who average 10 or more points, led by Barry Shelter at 17.0 ppg. His supporting cast includes WVIAC and Daktronics Atlantic Region Player of the Year Corey Pelle (16.4 ppg), Jordan Fortney (15.2 ppg), Alex Falk (12.9 ppg), John Wolosinczuk (12.6 ppg) and Tim Hausfield (10.8 ppg). Wolosinczuk is the team's leading rebounder at 7.3 per game and Pelle hands out 6.2 assists per game. Sheltzer and Fortney have each nailed 110 shots from beyond the 3-point arc to lead a long-range attack that has buried 441 treys in 29 games.

Home Cooking: The Rock finished the 2010-11 regular season with a 10-2 record in home games and own an 80% (32 of 40) success rate in games played in Morrow Field House under third-year head coach Kevin Reynolds.

West Liberty is 15-0 at home and its senior class has lost just one home game in their careers.

Holding Their Own: TheRock are 9-7 in road games and 2-1 in neutral-site games this winter and are 19-18 in road games and 6-3 in neutral site contests under Reynolds.

Doublin' Up:
Brown set an SRU record this winter for double-double performances with 19 in The Rock's first 31 games. The old record was 15, set by NABC honorable mention All-America performer Denell Stephens during the 2008-09 season. Brown has recorded 45 double-doubles in his three-year Rock career.

For complete notes, download the PDF linked at the top of this page.

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