BUFFALO TWP — Big start, fast finish.

The Slippery Rock High boys basketball team needed both.

The Rockets were in control of Bradford at the Freeport Holiday Tournament, shooting 10-of-14 from the floor and outrebounding the Owls 13-3 in the first seven-plus minutes on the way to a 23-2 lead.

But Bradford roared back, cutting the lead to one point just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter before Slippery Rock pulled away again for a 60-45 win.

“They weren't a team that was just going to back down,” said Slippery Rock coach Phil Bushre “They have good shooters and the will to win.”

The Owls, though, couldn't will any of their shots into the basket and suffered through a miserable 1-of-13 performance from the field in the first quarter.

But Bradford shot much better in the next 16 minutes and outscored the Rockets 28-13 in that span.

Bradford, though, couldn't wrest the lead away from the Rockets. Instead, Slippery Rock pulled away with a 15-5 run.

“I'm very happy with the start,” Bushre said. “With Christmas break and just one practice yesterday, there were a lot of loose ends. That middle of the game — I think we just got fatigued. The adrenaline wore off.”

Alec McDeavitt hit a huge 3-pointer to push the lead back to four points early in the fourth quarter. McDeavitt tallied a game-high 20 points.

Ryan Thompson and Caleb Whitney each had 10 points for Slippery Rock (4-1), which will play Freeport in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. today.

Freeport 53, Burrell 51 — Jake Campbell wasn't about to let this one slip away.The Freeport senior guard scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the third quarter to help keep the Bucs at bay.Campbell has played sparingly in the last two games because of foul trouble in a loss to Springdale and a lost contact lens that forced him to miss more than a quarter against Riverview in another defeat.“We expect him to be a leader,” said Freeport coach Garrie Davies.The Yellowjackets (2-3), trying to mesh some new and old faces together, may have taken a giant step forward against Burrell (2-4), Davies said.Freeport led by nine points early, then watched that advantage shrink to one point at the start of the second half.The Yellowjackets led again by seven points midway through the fourth quarter, but the Bucs clawed back to within one of the lead.But Freeport's Ryan Dunn hit a free throw with five seconds left and a desperation 3-pointer by Burrell's Alex White clanked off the front of the rim at the buzzer.“We practice like we're 6-0 — they practice hard every day. We don't let up,” Davies said.

BRADFORD 45Chuck Fair 3-12 0-0 6, Danny Rinfrette 3-7 2-4 9, Colton Holtzwarth 1-6 0-0 3, Randy Ruffner 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Viola 3-10 0-0 7, Cody Faucher 6-9 2-2 14, Forrest Wurks 2-6 2-4 6, Cody Mascho 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 18-52 6-10 45.

SLIPPERY ROCK 60Sean White 1-2 2-3 4, Alec McDeavitt 7-13 5-5 20, Ryan Thompson 3-4 4-4 10, Brian Giesler 4-8 1-3 9, Caleb Whitney 3-6 4-5 10, Andrew Waryanka 1-4 0-0 2, Cody Wolinski 0-0 1-2 1, Dustin Mellot 1-1 0-0 2, Ty Udy 1-1 0-0 2, Bobby Paczkowski 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Rummell 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 21-39 17-22 60.

Bradford 4 13 15 13—45Slippery Rock 23 7 6 24—603-point goals: Bradford 3 (Rinfrette, Holtzwarth, Viola); Slippery Rock 1 (McDeavitt).

Today: Slippery Rock at Freeport, 6:30 p.m.

BURRELL 51Zach Shyblaski 1-4 0-0 2, Cole Bush 4-8 0-2 8, Matt Hess 5-9 3-4 13, James Liput 5-7 0-0 12, Alex White 2-5 1-2 5, Kyle Legters 3-4 0-0 9, Kyle Saylor 1-2 0-0 2.

Totals: 21-39 4-8.

FREEPORT 53Derek Durand 3-6 1-2 7, Brendan Lynch 2-2 2-2 6, Jake Campbell 7-12 0-0 18, Shawn Liberto 2-9 1-3 5, Dan Pastoria 0-1 2-2 2, Cody McClelland 3-4 0-1 7, Ryan Dunn 1-2 1-2 4, Tyler Singer 0-2 2-2 2.

Totals: 18-38 9-14 53.

Burrell 12 17 9 13—51Freeport 19 13 14 7—533-point goals: Burrell 4 (Liput, Legters 3); Freeport 5 (Campbell 4, Dunn).

Today: Slippery Rock at Freeport, 6:30 p.m.