SLIPPERY ROCK — Eleven ties, 10 lead changes, neither team ever leading by more than five points, 2:40 left in the game.

That was the situation after Slippery Rock junior forward Ryan Dutton sank a lay-up Saturday afternoon at Morrow Field House.

Victory was finally within the grasp of the Rockets' boys basketball team. But it slipped away.

Hickory scored the game's final nine points to come away with a 55-46 victory in “The Slam” at The Rock, a Hoops For A Cure event held at Slippery Rock University.

“We won this game by pressuring their guards,” Hickory coach Bill Dzuricsko said. “Slippery Rock's strength is in their inside game.

“Ryan Dutton is an excellent player. He hurt us tonight.”

But not enough.

Dutton paced the Rockets (1-14, 1-10) with 22 points. He drained a pair of treys and collected six rebounds. But Slippery Rock still dropped its sixth straight game.

“He's a man out there,” Slippery Rock coach Randy Armagost said of Dutton. “He had a good game, I guess, but it should have been better. He didn't get the job done. We didn't get the job done.

“We should have won this game by 30 points.”

Hickory (8-8, 6-5) defeated Slippery Rock 69-56 earlier this season.

But the Hornets played most of Saturday's game with leading scorer Brandon Beader (15.3 ppg) in foul trouble. Beader scored only seven points, but did grab seven rebounds.

“He found a way to contribute and other guys stepped up their game in his absence,” Dzuricsko said. “This was a good team win.”

Sophomore guard Antonio Shannonhouse-Blackwell scored 14 points and had six assists while senior Ryan Laverty, who averages only five points per game, struck for 15 points and six boards.

Cameron Pica scored 10 points and hit the jump shot with 2:06 remaining to give the Hornets the lead for good. Jon Walsh, with nine points, four steals and three assists, canned two free throws with 1:51 left. Hickory hit five more free throws down the stretch to finally salt the game away.

“We won three games all of last year and started three freshmen,” Dzuricsko said. “Now they're sophomores and we're at .500 right now. I'm thrilled with our progress.”

Armagost did not take solace in his team staying close for nearly 32 minutes.

Slippery Rock had 20 turnovers to Hickory's nine and the Rockets attempted only eight free throws.

“We just didn't play tough enough,” Armagost said. “You can't just want to win. You have to work to win. We had a lot of rebounds go off our hands. That's not wanting it bad enough.

“Do these guys truly want to get better? I mean, is it in there? ... I don't know.”

Chase Allen had 10 points for the Rockets. Ricky Mineo came off the bench to get six points and four rebounds. Justin Heitzenrater had five rebounds, Josh Bowser three assists.

HICKORY 55

Anontio Shannonhouse-Blackwell 3-6 6-8 14, Joe DeJulia 0-3 0-0 0, Ryan Laverty 6-12 3-6 15, Jon Walsh 2-5 4-4 9, Cameron Pica 5-10 0-0 10, Brandon Beader 2-6 2-4 7. Totals: 18-40 15-22 55.

SLIPPERY ROCK 46

Hunter Prementine 0-0-0 0, Jeff Bennett 0-2 0-0 0, Ricky Mineo 3-4 0-0 6, Josh Bowser 2-5 0-1 5, Luke Brandon 0-0 1-2 1, Chase Allen 4-12 1-2 10, Ryan Dutton 9-17 2-3 22, Justin Heitzenrater 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 19-42 4-8 46.

Hickory 10 11 17 17 — 55

Slippery Rock11 10 17 8 — 46

3-point goals: Shannonhouse-Blackwell 2, Walsh, Beader; Bowser, Allen, Dutton 2

JV: None

Tuesday: George Junior Republic at Slippery Rock