Brown's fourth "double-double"effort leads SRU men’s basketball team Rock past Chestnut Hill, 77-61

PHILADELPHIA, Pa – Senior forward Maron Brown (Salisbury, Md./Wicomico HS) recorded his fourth "double-double" in as many games Saturday afternoon to lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a 77-61 win over hosting Chestnut Hill College in non-conference action.

Brown scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead a trio of Rock players who finished the game with double-digit scoring totals.

Senior guard Jabril Bailey (New Castle, Dela./Delcastle HS) scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds while junior guard Tabari Perry (Cambridge, Md./Cambridge-South Dorchester HS) chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.

The trio's efforts helped propel SRU to its second straight win after a pair of losses to open the season. Chestnut Hill fell to 1-3 on the season.

The Rock returns to action Friday, Dec. 3, when they will take on Dominican (N.Y.) in opening-day action of the Nyack College tournament in New York.

SRU finished Saturday's game with a respectable 45.6% (31-68) efficiency on its field goal attempts with a 22.2% (4-18) subtotal on shots from beyond the 3-point arc. The Green and White hit 73.3% (11-15) of their free throws.

Chestnut Hill shot 38.2% (21-55) from the field, 37.9% (11-29) from beyond the arc and a frigid 53.3% (8-15) from the foul line.

SRU held a 47-31 rebounding advantage and was the lower end of a 19-18 turnovers comparison.

The teams exchanged leads early in the game before the hosts rode a scoring spurt to a pair of seven-point leads, the latter coming with 11:45 left before halftime when the Griffins held a 20-13 advantage.

SRU outscored the hosts by an 17-4 margin in the next seven minutes, though, to take a six-point (30-24) lead with 4:15 left before the intermission.

The Rock took a three-point, 35-32, advantage into the break and stretched the margin to eight points (40-32) after one minute of play in the second half of action before Chestnut Hill chipped away.

The Griffins tied the score at 46-46 with 12:30 left in the game and took a 47-46 lead 30 seconds later, only to have Bailey can a pair of free throws to put The Rock back on top by one point (48-47) with 11:45 left.

A 10-0 Rock run stretched the Green and White's lead to 11 points (58-47), the first double-digit lead held by either team, with eight minutes remaining and the Griffins never got closer than eight points thereafter.

The Rock held its largest lead of the game, 76-57, with just less than a minute left to play.

Notes: Brown now ranks 15th on SRU’s career rebounding chart with 582 in three seasons ... Saturday's game marked the fourth time in as many games this winter Bailey scored 19 or more points ... Saturday's win was the 38th recorded by Rock Head Coach Kevin Reynolds in three seasons at SRU and moved him into a tie with Bob Smiley (1952-55) for the third highest win total recorded by a Rock coach in his first three seasons. The next Rock win will move Reynolds, who set school records for most wins by a first-year (21) and second-year (36) Rock head coach, into a tie with Hank Baierl (1958-61) for the most wins in three seasons. Mel Hankinson (1970-73) holds the school record for three-year wins with 50.