CALIFORNIA (Jan. 13) – The No. 13 California (PA) men's basketball team was unable to overcome its worst shooting performance in nearly a decade on Saturday afternoon in an 89-72 loss at Slippery Rock in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West action.
RECORDS/SERIES
• The Vulcans fall to 13-2 this season behind a 7-2 record in league play.
• The Rock improves to 6-8 overall, all six wins at home, with a 4-4 mark in conference action.
• Cal and Slippery Rock have alternated wins in the series over the last five meetings with the home team winning the last four times.
STATS
• Sophomore
KJ McClurg notched his fifth 30-point game of the year, scoring 34 points behind 19-of-22 attempts from the free-throw line.
• His 19 free-throws made are tied for the third-most in NCAA Division II this season.
• McClurg also broke the single-game school record for free-throws made, eclipsing the previous mark of 17 set by Dana Zajicek in the 1986-87 season.
• The West Virginia native continues to lead the PSAC in scoring this year at 23.4 points per game.
• Redshirt sophomore
Bryson Lucas finished with 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals over 21 minutes.
• Senior
Jermaine Hall, Jr. tallied eight rebounds, four assists and three steals on Saturday.
GAME ACTION
• The Rock raced out to a 13-3 lead at the 14:27-mark in the first half.
• Slippery Rock later posted a 10-2 run to extend its lead to 16 points, 27-11 with 8:54 left before the break.
• The Rock entered halftime with a 36-23 lead after limiting the Vulcans to only five field goals (18.5 percent; 5-of-27).
• Cal was unable to cut the deficit into single digits in the second half on Saturday, trailing by as few as 11 points (61-50) with 10:01 remaining.
• The Rock led by as many as 19 points twice in the contest, initially at the 2:26-mark (80-61).
• Cal finished the game shooting just 26.7 percent (16-of-60) from the floor, its lowest mark since Jan. 24, 2015 – also at Slippery Rock.
• The Vulcans entered the weekend as the NCAA Division II leader in field-goal percentage this season with a .535 clip.
• Cal and Slippery Rock combined to attempt 70 free-throws on Saturday with the Vulcans converting 81.4 percent (35-of-43).
• The Rock scored 52 points in the paint and held a 46-38 rebounding advantage.
• Slippery Rock sophomore Ike Herster scored a career-high 36 points on 12-of-19 from the floor and 10-of-13 from the charity stripe.
NEXT
• Cal returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 17, when it travels to face Clarion in PSAC West play at 7:30 p.m.
