SLIPPERY ROCK — Friday's Grove City-Slippery Rock contest lacked points, but not intensity.

Slippery Rock, which enjoyed an 11-point lead late in the third quarter, held off a late charge by the Eagles to pull out a 44-42 District 10 Region 6 victory at Slippery Rock High.

The Rockets (3-0, 1-0) sank 7 of 10 free throws over the final 1:50 to hold on for the win.

“Every time we play (Grove City), it always comes down to the end,” Rockets coach Phil Bushre said. “I knew we'd get their best.”

The Eagles mustered just 18 points in the first 22Z\x minutes of the game, but they also limited Slippery Rock to 29 at that point.

“We made what, 10 or 15 percent of our shots in the first half,” Grove City coach Don Fee asked. “I think we were trying too hard.

“It wasn't like we missed bad shots. We had a lot of good opportunities, but we missed some layups. Slippery Rock was a handful,” he added.

Slippery Rock held a 22-11 halftime advantage, thanks in part to a 16-4 run that overlapped the first two quarters.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Brian Giesler to close the first quarter, the other by Sean White to open the second, helped to fuel the run.

Grove City grabbed some momentum late in the third quarter when Torin Smith drained a 3-pointer before Caleb Whitney's basket gave the Rockets that 11-point lead.

A free throw by Jon Anderson, a trey by Smith and an Anderson tip-in closed out the third-quarter scoring to trim the deficit to 29-24.

With Slippery Rock holding a 37-33 lead, Brady Beech sank two free throws to make it a two-point game with 1:52 to play.

Slippery Rock's Ryan Thompson made two free throws and Alec McDeavitt added another for a 40-35 lead with 1:16 to play.

Alex Goodwin answered with a basket with 46 seconds to play to make it a one-possession game.

Andrew Waryanka extended the lead to four with a free throw, but Beech made it 41-39 with 19.8 seconds to play with two free throws of his own.

The Eagles then fouled Sean White, who made a free throw with 12.5 seconds left.

The Eagles brought the ball past midcourt and called a timeout. On the inbounds pass, Anderson couldn't find an open man and was called for a five-second violation.

Thompson nailed both free throws with 8.7 seconds left for a 44-39 lead to ice the game.

Smith connected on a 3-point basket at the buzzer to close out the scoring.

“Credit Slippery Rock. They played well,” said Fee. “Thompson made baseline jumpers and made key free throws down the stretch.

“We gave ourselves the opportunities. We didn't execute when we had to,” Fee added.

In all, the fourth quarter saw Slippery Rock make nine-of-13 free throws and three field goals; the Eagles nine-of-10 from the line and four field goals.

“We outrebounded (Grove City) 28-12,” said Bushre. “You do that, you'll be successful when you outrebound that much.”

Notes: Giesler led all scorers with 14 points while Thompson added 10 points. Grove City received 13 points apiece from Beech and Smith.

GROVE CITY 42Alex Goodwin 4 0-0 8, Brady Beech 4 5-6 13, Torin Smith 3 4-5 13, Anthony Ruffo 0 0-0 0, Jon Anderson 2 4-8 8, Alex Hall 0 0-0 0, O.J. Orlowski 0 0-0 0, Jordan Patterson 0 0-0 0, Sean Mackey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 13-19 42.

SLIPPERY ROCK 44Sean White 2 1-2 6, Alec McDeavitt 2 5-6 9, Ryan Thompson 2 6-8 10, Brian Giesler 6 0-1 14, Caleb Whitney 1 0-0 2, Andrew Waryanka 1 1-2 3, Dan Bertozzi 0 0-0 0, Ty Udy 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 14 13-19 44.

Grove City 6 5 13 18—42Slippery Rock 11 11 7 15—443-point goals: Grove City 3 (Smith 3); Slippery Rock 3 (Giesler 2, White).

Thursday: Slippery Rock at Franklin

Tuesday: Mercer at Grove City