GROVE CITY — Getting ready for overtime, coach Phil Bushre had just seen his Slippery Rock High boys basketball team lose a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.

His advice: Don't change a thing.

Two baskets in the first minute of overtime by Brent Ayers helped settle the Rockets en route to a 55-48 region victory over Grove City Friday.

Slippery Rock outscored the Eagles 8-1 in the extra period.

"I wanted to make sure we were not in panic mode," said Bushre. "Just do what got us there."

"(The Rockets) came to play and played hard," said Grove City coach Don Fee. "We didn't execute and we didn't make shots. We're not a big rebounding team.

"The biggest disappointment was our defense in the first half. They made some big baskets. We felt the pressure a bit and things snowballed from there," Fee added.

The Rockets (5-7, 1-5) built a 22-11 lead midway through the second quarter and never saw it shrink to fewer than eight points until the Eagles closed the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run.

Slippery Rock held a nine-point advantage with 5:54 remaining before the Eagles sprang to life.

Torin Smith drained a 3-pointer, then Pat Johnson sank a pair of free throws off a technical foul, then added a basket to make it a 45-41 game with 3:24 to go.

Ryan Gordon scored for Slippery Rock to break the spurt, but the Eagles (11-3, 3-3) responded with baskets by Alec Goodwin and Johnson before Johnson added two free throws with 52.1 seconds left to tie the game at 47.

Slippery Rock worked the clock down to the final seconds, but couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer.

Ayers' scores 11 seconds into overtime and with 3:01 left helped Slippery Rock to a 51-47 lead.

Ayers was a big boost for the Rockets, scoring a career-high 14 points and providing a big presence underneath.

Grove City's Jeff Hershberger made one of two free throws with 2:15 left, but the Eagles couldn't find the basket the rest of the game.

The Rockets, though, missed the front end of three one-on-ones in a 16-second span, the latter two attempts by Brian Giesler.

Giesler, however, sank all four of his attempts inside the final 21 seconds to seal the win.

"I know with the history and the program that this is a big win for Slippery Rock," Bushre said.

Giesler netted 14 points and Alec McDeavitt added 12 points and Gordon nine.

Hershberger led the Eagles with 18 points and Johnson contributed 13.

SLIPPERY ROCK 55Ryan Gordon 3 2-2 9, Alec McDeavitt 5 0-0 10, Justin Bennett 2 0-1 4, Brian Giesler 4 4-6 14, Brent Ayers 7 0-0 14, Sean White 0 0-0 0, Ryan Thompson 0 0-0 0, Caleb Whitney 1 0-0 2,.

Totals: 22 6-9 55.

GROVE CITY 48Brady Beech 2 0-0 4, Torin Smith 2 0-0 6, Jon Anderson 1 1-2 3, Jeff Hershberger 8 2-5 18, Pat Johnson 4 4-4 13, Alec Goodwin 2 0-0 4, O.J. Orlowski 0 0-0 0, Chauncey Miller 0 0-0 0, Jordan Patterson 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 19 7-11 48.

Slippery Rock 12 20 11 4 1—55Grove City 6 15 11 15 1—483-point goals: Slippery Rock 5 (McDeavitt 2, Giesler 2, Gordon); Grove City 3 (Smith 2, Johnson).JV: Grove City, 42-23 (GC: O.J. Orlowski 21)

Tuesday: Hickory at Slippery Rock; Grove City at Farrell