Slippery Rock men upset #16 Winston-Salem State, earn first NCAA opening win since 1978

WEST LIBERTY, W. Va.  --  Slippery Rock University recorded its first NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament opening-round victory since 1978 with a 69-67 win Saturday afternoon over 16th-ranked Winston-Salem State University in the Atlantic Regional hosted by West Liberty University.

With the win over the second-seeded Rams (21-7), the sixth-seeded Rock improved their season record to 23-8 and matched the school record shared by three previous teams for single-season wins.

Most importantly, the Green and White earned a berth in Sunday's 5 p.m. second-round game, in which they will meet Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division rival Indiana U. of Pa. for the fourth time this season.

Third-seeded IUP (25-5), winners of two of the three previous meetings with SRU this winter and the No. 10 team in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches' Division II national ranking, advanced to Sunday's action with a 76-68 win over conference rival East Stroudsburg, the No. 6 seed, in Saturday's first opening-round game.

Junior swingman Tabari Perry drove the left baseline and scored off an assist from junior guard Sa'Quan Davis with 2.6 seconds left to play to account for the winning points in The Rock's win Saturday.

Perry then put the exclamation point on the win when he blocked a last-second jump shot by Winston-Salem State standout Justin Glover and grabbed the loose ball as the final horn sounded.

Senior forward Devin Taylor recorded game-high totals of 27 points and 15 rebounds to lead The Rock attack, while both Perry and senior forward Gerald Brooks finished the game with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Perry, who prior to scoring the game-winning points had scored on two offensive rebounds late in the game to keep The Rock in the game, also blocked a career-high four shots Saturday.

Saturday's “double-double” was Taylor's team-leading 14th of the season.

Joe Thompson muscled his way to team-high totals of 19 points and 11 rebounds for Winston-Salem State, while Glover had 15 points and six rebounds and Michel-Ofik Nzege chipped in 13 points and six rebounds.

The Rock shot 39% (23 of 59) from the field, made three of 14 (11%) shots from 3-point range and sank 20 of 27 (74%) free throws in the game.

SRU also won the rebounding battle by a 46-40 margin, but were on the high side of an 11-8 turnover comparison.

Winston-Salem State made 35% (24 of 68) of its action shots with a 6-of-15 showing from 3-point range and hit 13 of 21 (62%) free throws.

Saturday's win was SRU's first in NCAA tournament action since the 1990-91 squad beat Shippensburg, 119-101, in a since-discontinued consolation game of the Eastern Regional.

The only other opening-round win recorded by a Rock men's team in five tries was a 70-65 victory over Scranton in the 1977-78 Atlantic Regional. The Rock are now 3-5 all-time in NCAA tournament games.

The Rock trailed for a majority of Saturday's game before they rode an 8-1 run down the stretch to victory.

A 3-point shot by Taylor with 3:45 left to play in the first half gave SRU its first lead, 30-29, but Winston-Salem State responded with a 4-0 spurt to regain the lead en route to a 38-32 halftime lead.

The Rock trailed for the first 11 minutes of the second half before Perry scored on an offensive rebound to give the Green and White a 53-52 lead with 8:54 left to play.

Those put-back points were the fourth in a string of eight unanswered tallies The Rock scored to take a 57-52 lead with 8:15 left, but again the Rams came charging back. A 7-0 Winston-Salem State run put The Rock down by a 59-57 score with seven minutes remaining.

Perry scored on two more offensive rebounds to offset a pair of baskets by the Rams and deadlock the count at 61-61 with 5:30 left to play.

Winston-Salem State scored the next five points to take a 66-61 lead with four minutes left, but that merely set the stage for The Rock's game-winning 8-1 run down the stretch.

Notes:

With the win Saturday, this year's Rock squad matched the victory totals of the 1972-73 team (23-7) coached by Mel Hankinson and the 1989-90 (23-6) and 1990-91 (23-9) squads coached by Bob Barlett … Saturday's win was the 97th recorded by The Rock in five seasons under the leadership of head coach Kevin Reynolds. That win total is 11 higher than the second-best five-year mark in school history (89 wins by Barlett from 1987-92) … Saturday's win was The Rock's third in five meetings with a nationally-ranked team this winter and the fifth in 14 duels with ranked teams in Reynolds' five seasons as head coach … Taylor has scored 1,134 points and grabbed 745 rebounds in his three-year Rock career. He ranks 14th in scoring and 12th in rebounding and needs only four points and five rebounds to move up one spot on the respective charts.


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