SLIPPERY ROCK — Friday's game at Morrow Field House was no contest.

It was more of a tune-up.

The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team overwhelmed Ohio University-Eastern from the opening tip and rolled to a 113-53 victory.

While the lopsided win was enjoyable, simply getting on the court was a breath of fresh air for The Rock.

In the midst of winter break, Friday represented the second of only two games in 26 days before a grueling second-semester stretch of 16 contests — all against conference opponents — to finish the regular season.

“It was good. We got to play a game, the guys get tired of practicing against each other,” said SRU coach Kevin Reynolds. “We needed another game in there.”

Torrance Timothy led The Rock with 24 points and went 6 of 10 from 3-point range.

Everyone contributed to the win, though, as each SRU player saw at least 10 minutes of playing time and scored four points.

It was simply an opportunity to get a little work in before the grind of the remaining Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schedule that awaits.

Shaking off the rust shouldn't be too tough. The players have used the time off from games to buckle down in practice.

Slippery Rock's record stands at 6-4 overall and 3-3 in PSAC play.

Devin Taylor — who was averaging a double-double coming into Friday's win with 13.4 points and 11.3 rebounds per game — thinks his team's winning percentage could be a little bit higher.

He also believes winter break will help.

“The games we've been losing, they've come down to the wire,” Taylor explained. “It gave us a lot of time to watch film, get closer as a unit and tighten up all of the loose ends that we need to fix.”

The Rock came together with time last season, advancing to the PSAC title game and earning a berth to the NCAA Division-II Tournament.

“I just think we'll do a lot better than we did in the first semester. Usually, we're a second-semester team, anyway,” said Taylor. “If we stay healthy, stick together and keep going hard, I think we'll do really well.”

A rise in SRU's shooting percentages would go a long way to evolving The Rock into a PSAC-West force.

Coming into Friday's rout, The Rock had posted subpar field-goal (.420), 3-point (.325) and free-throw (.612) percentages.

“We just haven't shot the ball well,” said Reynolds. “We've been one of the best defensive teams and rebounding teams in Division II the last three years and we're still good at it again this year, but our offense still hasn't been at the level we'd like.”

With extra time available for practice during the winter break, SRU hopes to have found its shooting stroke.

“The assistant coaches have done a good job getting extra shots with the guys and we were 14 of 29 from 3 tonight, which is good,” said Reynolds. “We have to continue to shoot the ball better.”

The awaiting adversaries of the PSAC West won't make life easy on The Rock, though.

Of the eight teams in the division, seven have a winning record.

“Three of the last four years, a team from the Western Division has gone to the Elite 8,” said Reynolds. “It's a different team going every year, too. That's what makes the division so difficult.”

Aubin Reeves — SRU's second-leading scorer at 10.9 points per game — has taken the extra time from winter break to heart.

“We have a lot of time to practice. We don't play again until next week, so we have another week of just working hard everyday, trying to get better,” Reeves explained. “Just paying attention to detail and working on little things that we mess up on.

“We're getting better as a team, we're becoming more of a team,” he added. “Nobody is selfish.”

OHIO U-EASTERN 53Jordan Barbina 2-7 0-0 5, Jason Shaw 10-21 9-11 30, Adam Perzanowski 0-3 0-0 0, Nick Schuetz 0-5 2-2 2, Grant McCroskey 0-5 1-2 1, Ellis Brown 1-4 0-1 2, Bo J Bailey 2-2 0-0 5, Darrick Phillips 1-3 0-0 2, Dustin Hines 3-7 0-0 6.

Totals: 19-57 12-16 53.

SLIPPERY ROCK 113Chaquille Pratt 2-4 0-0 4, Tabari Perry 6-9 1-2 13, Jon Valeriano 4-6 0-0 11, Aubin Reeves 4-9 0-0 8, Tommy Kelly 3-6 1-1 8, Devin Taylor 4-5 1-1 9, Brett Young 3-4 0-0 6, John Bayardelle 6-11 0-0 14, John Bossle 4-8 0-0 10, Luiz Santos 3-3 0-0 6, Torrance Timothy 8-14 2-2 24.

Totals: 47-79 5-6 113.

Ohio U-Eastern 23 28—53Slippery Rock 56 57—1133-point goals: Ohio U-Eastern 3-18 (Barbina 1-2, Shaw 1-5, Bailey 1-1, Perzanowski 0-2, Schuetz 0-2, McCroskey 0-4, Brown 0-1), Slippery Rock 14-29 (Timothy 6-10, Valeriano 3-5, Bossle 2-4, Bayardelle 2-3, Kelly 1-3, Young 0-1, Pratt 0-1, Perry 0-1, Reeves 0-1).

Friday: Cheyney at Slippery Rock, 7:30 p.m.