Box Score

SLIPPERY ROCK – East Stroudsburg University held Slippery Rock without a field goal over the final six minutes and freshman guard Whis Grant scored 13 points to lead four Warriors in double figures in a 64-55 win in PSAC men's basketball on Saturday afternoon.

Junior forward Duane Johnson had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists, senior guard Russell Graham III scored 12 and junior forward Terrance King had 11 points and eight rebounds to pace the starting five. Junior guard Gerald Bridges, Jr. had nine points, going 3-for-3 from long distance, and 11 rebounds off the bench.

ESU (5-3, 2-1 PSAC) won for the fifth time in its last six games and posted its sixth straight win in the series with Slippery Rock (3-2, 1-2), which played in the PSAC championship game last season. The Warriors will look for a 3-1 start in conference play on Sunday at Mercyhurst, which is coming off an 84-73 win over Kutztown.

The Warriors went on a 23-9 run to close the first half after trailing 18-11 with 8:30 left in the opening period. Bridges and Grant both knocked down two three's in the stretch, including the first of Bridge's three triples that gave ESU a 20-19 lead. Grant hit one in the final minute to give ESU a 34-27 halftime lead.

ESU hit the offensive glass in the second half, scoring 14 of its 30 points on second-chance opportunities thanks to 13 offensive rebounds. Grant knocked down a three after an offensive rebound by Graham early in the second half, and Johnson followed a missed layup by King with a tip-in to give the Warriors a 46-36 lead with just under 14 minutes left.

Slippery Rock whittled an 11-point deficit to two (50-48) at the seven-minute mark thanks in large part to a 7-0 run capped by a fast break dunk by Devin Taylor. After an ESU timeout, Bridges hit his third three of the game and Taylor answered at the other end to make it 53-50 with 6:05 remaining.

The Rock wouldn't score from the field again while Graham and Johnson had four points each down the stretch. Bridges had five rebounds, three on the offensive end, in the final six minutes; Graham scored on consecutive possessions to make it 59-52 with 1:33 left, and a dunk by Johnson on an assist by Grant gave ESU a 61-55 lead with a minute to play.

Taylor led Slippery Rock with 13 points and 14 rebounds and Luiz Santos and Aubin Reeves scored 10 points each.

Neither team shot better than 36 percent from the field – ESU shot 34.3 percent (23-67) and SRU shot 35.6 percent (21-59) – but the Warriors were 7-for-14 from long range, 11-for-14 from the foul line and had just 10 turnovers. Slippery Rock shot 4-for-16 from three, 9-for-13 at the line and turned it over 19 times.

ESU entered the game shooting 48.3 percent and scored at least 80 points in five of its first seven games, but also ranked third in the PSAC in field goal defense at 43.0 percent. Six of the Warriors' first eight opponents have shot less than 45 percent.