SLIPPERY ROCK — There’s a big difference between Division II and Division III college basketball.

Slippery Rock proved it on Friday night.

The Rock men’s basketball team built a 52-21 halftime cushion over Westminster and rolled to a 102-48 season-opening victory in front of its home crowd at Morrow Field House.

“What we try to really focus on our team is the cohesion, playing hard, playing together and being unselfish,” said SRU coach Kevin Reynolds. “I think we did that tonight.

“Everyone scored,” added Reynolds. “Everyone has been practicing hard, so it’s good to reward everyone on the court.”

The Titans, a Division III squad, kept up with SRU in the opening minutes, but The Rock quickly became too much to handle.

Doug Smith hit a 3-pointer from the corner to knot the game at 9-9 when Reynolds called timeout with 16:42 to go in the first half.

Slippery Rock traveled to Penn State for a preseason game Saturday and Reynolds reminded his team of the intensity it played with against a Division I team.

“I just wanted them to play harder,” said Reynolds. “I told the team that Westminster was going to be as excited and animated to be in the game as we were in Penn State Saturday.

“I told my team that I wanted to come out like it was IUP or West Chester or East Stroudsburg or Edinboro and play at that same level,” Reynolds added. “We didn’t, but then we call the timeout and the guys realized we needed to pick it up, and I think we did that.”

John Bayardelle found Devin Taylor in the post for an easy bucket out of the timeout, which sparked a 12-2 run for The Rock.

“We played hard and we were rewarded with nice buckets,” said SRU forward Taylor, who posted a game-high 22 points on 10 of 11 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. “Everybody has been going hard at practice and I think we just need to tighten up a few areas with communication and watching turnovers.”

Bayardelle hit all three of his 3-pointers on his way to 13 points, five boards and three assists.

SRU (1-0) never let Westminster (0-1) get within 12 and closed the half on a 22-4 surge.

“There’s a reason they have kids they pay to play and we don’t have any,” said Westminster coach Larry Ondako, referring to Division III schools not being able to give athletic scholarships. “If they have four (scholarship players), that’s four more than we have.

“We understood what we were getting into coming over here,” Ondako added. “We just wanted to get out and play a game as opposed to a scrimmage.”

The Titans didn’t have anyone in double figures, as Smith and Anthony Thomas led Westminster with nine points apiece.

Ondako wasn’t as worried about the result as much as the repetitions against a talented team.

“I was impressed with the way (SRU) shot the ball early on and really got after us,” Ondako said. “They’re a really nice team.”

Tabari Perry and Will Kirkland posted 12 and 10 points, respectively, for The Rock. Aubin Reeves led SRU with six assists.

Slippery Rock will travel to West Chester on Nov. 19, before stopping at Millersville Nov. 20 for PSAC crossover games.

“It was good to get a win under our belt, and we’ll get back to practice tomorrow,” said Reynolds.

Every SRU player logged at least 8 minutes.

The SRU fraternities conducted a 3-point shootout at halftime and donated $100 each to the American Heart Foundation in memory of Jack Hill Jr., who died Sept. 10 after collapsing at a men’s basketball conditioning session.

WESTMINSTER 48Adam Carswell 1-4 2-2 4, Anthony Thomas 3-9 3-5 9,. Doug Smith 3-10 0-0 9, Kendall Hunter 3-6 0-0 8, Matt Shiner 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Gregor 0-0 0-0 0, Steve Ferringer 0-2 0-0 0, Mike Matisi 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Harville 0-1 0-0 0, John Romero 0-0 0-0 0, Torrell Grier 1-3 0-0 2, Rob Martino 3-12 2-2 8, Ben Donlow 2-6 2-2 6, Anthony Humes 0-0 0-0 0, Mark Hockenberry 0-1 2-2 2.

Totals: 16-58 11-13 48.

SLIPPERY ROCK 102Devin Taylor 10-11 2-2 22, John Bayardelle 5-7 0-0 13,. Jon Valeriano 1-2 0-0 2, Aubin Reeves 3-7 1-2 8, Luiz Santos 2-3 3-5 7, Chaquille Pratt 1-3 2-6 4, Brett Young 1-1 0-0 2, John Bossle 0-3 1-2 1, Will Kirkland 5-6 0-0 10, Tommy Kelly 1-4 1-3 5, Tabari Perry 6-8 0-0 12, Wes Kirkland 4-7 0-0 9, Torrance Timothy 1-3 4-4 6, Maxx Rynd 1-4 0-1 2.

Totals: 41-69 14-25 102.

Westminster 21 27—48Slippery Rock 52 50—1023-point goals: Westminster 5-21 (Thomas 0-3, Smith 3-8, Hunter 2-4, King 0-1, Martino 0-3, Donlow 0-1); Slippery Rock 6-16 (Bayardelle 3-3, Reeves 1-2, Bossle 0-2, Wi. Kirkland 0-1, Kelly 1-2, Perry 0-1, We. Kirkland 1-3, Rynd 0-2).

Nov. 19: Slippery Rock at West Chester