The parents of a Slippery Rock University student who died during basketball practice can pursue their lawsuit against the NCAA over claims it failed to test him for sickle-cell anemia.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court earlier this month overturned a Butler County Court ruling that found the NCAA could not be held liable in the 2011 death of Jack Hill Jr.

The 21-year-old Hill of Roselle, N.J., died from sickle cell trait-related complications following a strenuous, late-night basketball practice.

The three-judge appeals court panel in a May 3 split decision ruled that the NCAA could be held liable in the death because it did not require Division II schools, like SRU, to test student-athletes for SCT.

A year before Hill died, the NCAA began mandatory SCT testing for Division I schools. Testing for Division II and Division III schools were not required until 2012 and 2013, respectively.

“Had the NCAA’s protocols tested for sickle cell trait at Division II schools, Mr. Hill may not have suffered the event that caused his death,” Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Shogan wrote in the majority opinion.

“Thus, appellants claimed that the inadequate preparticipation physical, which allowed Mr. Hill to play basketball, increased his risk of harm.”

Jack and Cheryl Hill Sr., alleging their son should have been tested before the September 2011 workout, in 2013 sued the university, the McLaughlin Student Health Center, a nurse and the NCAA.

But in 2014, Butler County Court Judge Marilyn Horan dismissed the NCAA from the lawsuit, finding that it could only be liable for “sins of commission” and not “sins of omission.”

The appeals court ruling this month reversed the lower court’s finding.

In her opinion, Shogan cited the Restatement of Torts, which holds that a defendant’s liability for negligent or reckless conduct applies to both affirmative acts as well as failure to act.

The Restatement of Torts are authoritative summaries of law compiled in the 1970s by the American Law Institute, an organization of lawyers, judges and law professors, which many states, including Pennsylvania, recognize.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Chip Becker of Kline & Specter of Philadelphia, welcomed the Superior Court decision.

“Pennsylvania law has always recognized that negligence can result from both acts and failures to act,” Becker said. “We pointed the Superior Court to cases illustrating that point, including cases that are bedrocks of Pennsylvania law.”

The appeals court ruling, he stressed, was not precedent setting.

“The Superior Court’s opinion did not change Pennsylvania law so much as clearly state what the law always has been, thus making a very helpful contribution to the jurisprudence of the commonwealth.”

According to the lawsuit, Hill was an information technology major and manager of the men’s basketball team when he joined the practice in hopes of making the team’s active roster.

SRU officials gave Hill a medical examination when he first tried out for the team. He hadn’t played before the physical because the coaches believed he was “overweight and not in playing shape,” according to the lawsuit, which says Hill was 6 feet tall and 261 pounds at the time.

Hill was not screened for SCT or sickle cell anemia, and he answered “no” when asked to fill out a form about whether he had either condition.

Hill didn’t know he had the sickle cell trait, according to the lawsuit, which could have been revealed with a blood test.

NCAA officials did not return calls and e-mails Monday. A Slippery Rock spokesman previously said that the school does not comment on lawsuits.

Becker noted that with the preliminary objections now resolved, the lawsuit can move forward on the facts of the case rather than the law.