Box Score

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team cut its double-digit deficit to as few as four points early in the second half on Saturday afternoon but couldn't muster enough firepower to overcome the balanced attack of Slippery Rock in a 78-65 PSAC crossover loss from Heiges Field House.

Sophomore Tony Ellis led the Raiders (2-10) with a season-high 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting in addition to a team-high six rebounds while playing the entire 40 minutes for the first time in his career.

Included in Ellis's scoring total was a dunk just over two minutes into the second half that sparked the Raider comeback attempt and cut the Rock lead to single digits.

Freshman Abe Massaley made three of his four attempts from downtown and finished with 17 points while sophomore Joe Lococo scored 10 points to complement his team-high four assists.

Redshirt-freshman Marcus Williams contributed a career-high nine points on 4-of-6 shooting as he, Massaley and Lococo each pulled down four rebounds. 

Trailing by as many as 16 points with under two minutes left before halftime, the Raiders went on an 18-6 run over the next roughly six minutes of game action to cut its deficit to just four at the first media timeout of the second half, down 40-36.

The Raiders were unable to cut their deficit to any fewer than four points, however, as the Rock scored 21 of the next 28 points to get up by as many as 18 points with 8:32 left.

Shippensburg shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field – its second-highest rate of the season – but it was not enough to overcome Rock's 45 percent shooting and its quartet of players scoring at least 14 points each.

SU will travel to Edinboro on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. contest in each team's PSAC crossover finale.