SLIPPERY ROCK — Written in light black marker on a whiteboard in the Slippery Rock University men’s basketball office is an old message.

‘Let’s get Blackjack. 21 wins’ was scrawled as a reminder of an ideal win total for making it beyond the conference tournament last season.

SRU is seven wins away from a winning hand after a 72-60 PSAC West Division win over Clarion University Wednesday night at Morrow Field House.

Rock coach Kevin Reynolds left the message up as a permanent reminder.

“It’s been up there since last season, actually,” Reynolds said. “We’ve kept it up as reminder that postseason play is the goal. We’ve been to two postseasons the last two years and we want to get three.”

With Reynolds encouraging while pacing in the background, senior forward Frank Holloway said The Rock (14-5, 9-4) would prefer to go over.

It’d be a bust in Blackjack, but a benefit for SRU.

“Like coach said, I want more than 21 wins,” said Holloway, who finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. “I believe we can win the whole thing, but like I said it starts with us finishing layups, crashing the boards and playing ‘D’.”

SRU brought the defense against Clarion and never trailed. The Rock surged out to a 16-1 lead and held Clarion without a field goal until Kyheim Hall made a jumper with 10:39 left in the first half.

Hall — who finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds — was the only Golden Eagles player to finish in double figures.

“When we’re in the half-court, we struggle to score,” Clarion coach Marcess Williams said. “That’s been this team since day one. We need to be in transition.”

SRU had three other players besides Holloway — Antonio Butler (21 points), Malcolm Richardson (13) and Kelvin Goodwin (11) — finish in double figures against the Golden Eagles (6-10, 4-9).

SRU led 37-20 at halftime and extended its lead to a game-high 23 points, 57-34, on a 3-pointer from Holloway with 8:54 remaining.

Once Clarion’s shots started to fall and the Golden Eagles started to press, they were able to whittle The Rock’s lead away.

A layup from Rob Agurs cut the deficit to eight, 66-58, with 1:48 remaining. Clarion didn’t get any closer as The Rock made free throws to seal the win.

SRU struggled to score in the second half, shooting 32 percent (10-of-31) from the field.

Butler said The Rock’s offense needs to catch up to its defense.

SRU held the rebounding advantage, 51-38.

“It starts on the defensive end. We did a good job of playing defense and have to continue doing that,” Butler said. “We have to make shots. We haven’t been making shots lately. We have to get field goal percentage up to 40 percent so we can reach our goal.”

SRU has nine conference games remaining to try to get over 21 wins and back into the postseason.