ERIE, Pa. -
Raphell Thomas-Edwards' (Leicester, England/The Gateway School) career-high 20 points led three Golden Knights in double digits as the Gannon men's basketball team completed a season sweep of Slippery Rock Wednesday night with a 59-56 victory at the Hammermill Center.
Gannon remained red hot with the victory, giving the Golden Knights their seventh win in the last eight contests. In the process, the squad snapped a third-place tie with the Rock and maintained pace in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division race. The Golden Knights moved into a three-way tie with Indiana (Pa.) and Mercyhurst for first place in the win column (8), but own one more loss than both teams.
It was your typical grind-it-out, physical, down-to-the-wire game that fans have grown accustom to seeing Gannon and Slippery Rock in. The contest featured 13 ties and six lead changes. The final deadlock of the game came at 44-44 after Maurice Lewis-Briggs' three-pointer with 12:07 remaining.
Gannon responded by holding Slippery Rock scoreless for the next 4:03 and without a field goal for the next 5:48. In the process, the Golden Knights scored seven consecutive points, including six from the free throw line. Thomas-Edwards began the run with a pair of free throws.
Adam Blazek (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) followed with an old-fashion three-point play, before
Tee Talley (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) hit two free throws to give the Golden Knights a 51-44 lead with 8:22 to play.
The visitors fired right back with five consecutive points of its own to draw within 51-49 at the 6:19 mark. But Gannon answered again with a mini 7-2 blitz.
A'Darius Porter (Stockbridge, Ga./Woodland) sparked the run with a lay-up while being fouled. He made the ensuing free throw and added two more on Gannon's next possession. A Blazek jumper pushed the advantage back to seven (58-51) with 3:14 remaining.
Yet it came as no surprise to the fearless crowd that trekked through the snow when Slippery Rock rally again. The Rocked clawed with 58-56 on back-to-back lay-ups from Kelvin Dixon. The second one came with 47 ticks left on the clock.
Gannon then missed a jumper, but Thomas-Edwards grabbed a huge offensive rebound with 13 seconds remaining and called time-out with 11 seconds left. Blazek was fouled on the inbound play, but made only one of two free throws. Dixon took the Rock inbound pass and raced down the sideline. After almost losing the ball out-of-bound near mid-court, his off-balanced three-pointer at the buzzer was no good to give the Golden Knights a thrilling 59-56 victory.
The first half signaled what a great game was developing. The two teams were tied seven times and exchanged the lead three times during the first 20 minutes. Gannon led by as many as seven points (16-9) midway through the first half, but Slippery Rock battled back to tie the game with 4:19 showing on the clock. The rivals were tied five times during the final 4:19, before heading to the intermission deadlocked at 27.
Thomas-Edwards led Gannon with a career-high 20 points and six rebounds, hitting 8-of-13 field goals and all four free throw attempts. Blazek had another full statistical line with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals while playing all 40 minutes. The junior guard moved past Rich Bush (1998-01) and into third place all-time at Gannon with his 154th career steal. Porter rounded out the double-digit group with 12 points.
Gannon shot 43.8 percent (21-48) from the field, 14.3 percent (1-7) from three-point range and 80 percent (16-20) from the free throw line.
Lewis-Briggs topped all scorers with 27 points and eight rebounds for Slippery Rock. Tabari Perry and Dixon chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Rock shot 39.2 percent (20-51) from the floor, 21.1 percent (4-19) from behind the arc and 63.2 percent (12-19) from the charity stripe. The visitors became the first team this season to out-rebound Gannon, producing a 35-27 edge.
Gannon improved to 13-8 overall and 8-3 in the PSAC Western Division while becoming the first team to record a sweep in the all-time series since accomplishing the feat in 2009-10. Slippery Rock dropped to 16-7 overall and 7-4 in divisional play with its third loss in the last four games. The Golden Knights return to action Saturday, February 8 at rival Mercyhurst. Game time at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center is scheduled for 3 p.m.
