Dale Clancy scored 18 points, but Slippery Rock shot 57% and used a 28-11 run over an eight minute span of the second half to break open a one-point game in an 89-63 PSAC victory over Pitt-Johnstown, Saturday afternoon in Slippery Rock.  The Mountain Cats had their four-game winning streak snapped and slipped to 14-11 overall and 12-9 in the PSAC Western Division.
 
Slippery Rock started fast and hit 8 of its first 11 shots to open-up a nine-point lead five minutes into the game, then had an answer each time Pitt-Johnstown would get it close.
 
Brandon Simmons scored nine quick points, and Merdic Green's basket put The Rock up 17-8, before Isaac Vescovi made three straight free-throws and Clancy connected on a 3-pointer at 13:39 to get the Mountain Cats back to within five.
 
After Khyree Wooten's 3-pointer pushed Slippery Rock's lead back out to eight, the Mountain Cats made it 29-26 on Olando King, Jr.'s free-throw and Levi Masua's jumper with 7:31 left in the half.
 
The Rock countered with an 8-0 spurt over the next three minutes, capped by a Tony Gates layup, to take their largest lead of the half at 37-26, but Pitt-Johnstown used buckets by Clancy and King, Jr. in the final minute to narrow it to 40-35 at the break.
 
The Mountain Cats made it 42-41 on Josh Wise's jumper early in the second half, but Slippery Rock outscored Pitt-Johnstown 28-11 to build the lead to 18 at the midway point. The Rock regained control and extended the lead 13 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Wooten and Micah Till at the 11:36 mark, then to 18 at 70-52 on Bruce Spruell's layup
 
Pitt-Johnstown was never able to recover, as Slippery Rock continued to extend the lead on its way to the conference victory.
 
Clancy's 18 points led three Mountain Cat double figure scorers.  Vescovi had 13 points and seven rebounds, and Wise finished with 12 points.  Pitt-Johnstown also got eight points and five rebounds from King, Jr. and six points and six rebounds from Masua.
 
Clancy currently stands in 10^th-place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List (1,437 points), third on the assists list (512), and fifth on the 3-point field goals list (229).  Vescovi is 13^th-place on the Pitt-Johnstown Scoring List with 1,357 points.
 
Pitt-Johnstown was held to 37.1% (23-62) shooting, including just 3-18 from 3-point range and 14-20 from the charity stripe.  Slippery Rock, which held a 46-27 advantage in rebounding, shot 56.9% (37-65) from the floor, 6-15 from behind the 3-point line, and 9-16 from the free-throw line.
 
Till had game-highs of 22 points and 16 rebounds, while Simmons had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Green tallied 16 points for Slippery Rock, which improved to 20-7 overall and 14-7 in the PSAC.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will finish the regular season with a PSAC game at Mercyhurst on Wednesday, before opening the 2018 PSAC Tournament on February 26 at a site and time to be determined.