HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Slippery Rock University’s men’s basketball team earned a moral victory in dropping a 77-65 exhibition game to Division I Southern Mississippi Tuesday night.

The Rock trailed 35-29 at halftime and used a 9-0 run to pull within 10 points with two minutes to play. Southern Mississippi returns three starters from a team that played in the NIT last year.

SRU returns only one starter from last year’s squad.

Junior guard Matej Delinac scored 16 points to pace The Rock. Senior center Maurice Lewis-Briggs added 14.

SRU takes on Pitt at the Petersen Events Center at 7 p.m. Friday. The team opens its official schedule Nov. 9 against Charleston as part of a tournament hosted by Shepherd University.

SRU’s home opener is at 7 p.m. Nov. 14 against Ohio Valley College at Morrow Field House.

VolleyballThe Slippery Rock University volleyball team got off to a fast start, but fell to Clarion University 25-19, 13-25, 24-26, 21-25 Tuesday night.Caroline Houston had 11 kills and Kayla Woo 22 digs to lead The Rock (9-19, 4-11) against Clarion (25-2, 14-1).