GROVE CITY — Don Fee isn't exactly sure how his Grove City High boys basketball team has gotten here.

He's just glad that they are. And at 7-2 in the region and in second place, the Eagles are right in the thick of the championship race.

“We're getting it done,” Fee said. “It doesn't matter how pretty it is. We're getting it done.”

Grove City pulled out another not-so-pretty game against rival Slippery Rock in front of a packed home gym, surviving three Rockets' chances to tie or win in a crazy final 9.2 seconds to win, 47-45, Tuesday night.

The Eagles trailed for most of the game, falling behind by as many as eight in the second half, before chipping away at the lead.

Danny Torok muscled up a layup after an offensive rebound to give Grove City its first lead of the second half with 25 seconds remaining.

The Eagles led 47-45 with 9.2 seconds left when Brady Kadlubek's 3-point attempt from deep on the right wing rimmed out.

Jake Whitmer got the rebound and forced up a shot that missed. After a scramble, the ball kicked out of bounds with all zeroes on the clock.

But the officials put four-tenths of a second back on the clock and Kadlubek's 15-footer at the buzzer stuck between the backboard and rim.

That sent the Grove City players and fans into a celebratory frenzy.

The resiliency of his team has pleased Fee more than anything this season, the coach said.

“We were down 25-6 against Conneaut early in the game and we came back. So, we've made some comebacks in some games,” Fee said. “We hang in there. I'll give them that. We have guys who like to compete.”

Brendan Record scored a game-high 19 points, nine coming in the fourth quarter.

More importantly for the Eagles, Record was 6-of-6 from the line — 4-of-4 in the final quarter.

“Record and Danny (Torok) turned it up a couple of notches late in the game,” Fee said. “They were just huge.”

Also huge was the defense of Jamie Hall, who was charged with the difficult task of guarding Slippery Rock point guard Jake Whitmer.

Hall held Whitmer to just nine points and only five shot attempts in the game.

Whitmer, though, spent a large portion of the second half on the bench with four fouls.

“Jamie Hall did a great job defensively on Jake,” Fee said. We don't want (Whitmer) getting to the basket and creating for the other guys and Jamie did a good job keeping him in front of him.”

For Slippery Rock, it was another disappointing, close loss.

The Rockets dropped their last two games before the Grove City loss in overtime to Franklin and Sharon.

Slippery Rock (6-8, 3-6) has lost six games this season by six points or less.

While that refrain has been a familiar one, Rockets' coach Phil Bushre preferred to speak of another familiar tune.

“Here's another similar refrain: we're working our tails off,” Bushre said. “I couldn't be more proud of these guys. I know we didn't get the result, but how can you not love coaching these guys? They never stop.”

Kadlubek and Ryan Dutton each scored 12 points to lead Slippery Rock.

Nine of Kadlubek's points came on three 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Rockets jumped out to a 13-6 lead.

Cam Neal added 11 points for Slippery Rock.

Even without Whitmer on the court for a large chunk of the second half, the Rockets maintained their lead.

“I thought even in that moment when it could have turned for Grove City, I thought our guys still weathered the storm,” Bushre said. “When it comes down to it, we could have made a few more free throws and we could have had a larger lead in the first half. I told the guys that, but, hey, we came down the stretch and we still had a chance to win.”

Neither team shot well from the line.

Grove City was 2-of-10 at one point and finished 11-of-23. Slippery Rock was 9-of-20 from the line in the game.

SLIPPERY ROCK 45

Jake Whitmer 2-5 5-8 9, Brady Kadlubek 4-11 0-0 12, Mark Cessar 0-0 1-2 1, Ryan Dutton 5-11 2-6 12, Cam Neal 5-8 1-2 11, Nate Popejoy 0-3 0-2 0, John Marks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-38 9-20 45.

GROVE CITY 47

Jamie Hall 0-2 2-5 2, Kam Patterson 3-10 0-4 7, Brendan Record 5-10 6-6 19, Spencer Marnich 0-1 2-4 2, Danny Torok 5-15 1-2 13, Jared Graham 2-3 0-2 4, Martin beatty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-41 11-23 47.

Slippery Rock 15 3 15 12 — 45

Grove City14 6 10 17 — 47

3-point goals: Slippery Rock 4 (Kadlubek 4); Grove City 6 (Patterson, Record 3, Torok 2)

JV: Grove City 65-35

Thursday: Meadville at Slippery Rock

Saturday: Grove City at Franklin