BUFFALO TWP — The Slippery Rock High boys basketball team needed this one.

Desperately.

“Well, you need them all,” said Rockets' coach Phil Bushre. “We didn't play any different than we have played all year. We just closed out a game.”

Slippery Rock (1-4) dropped its first four games this season in large part because of a sputtering offense that had averaged a mere 40 points per game.

But against Knoch at the Freeport Tournament Tuesday night, the Rockets overcame an early 10-point deficit, built a 37-31 lead at the half and held off the Knights for a much-needed 72-66 victory.

Ty Udy came off the bench to score 17 points, Caleb Whitney added 14 and Ryan Thompson pitched in another 11 for the Rockets, who nearly doubled their season average in scoring.

“I played 10 guys and everybody had positive minutes,” Bushre said. “You could almost give the game ball to everybody.”

Early on, Bushre substituted five players at a time. His bench depth is needed because of the up-tempo and aggressive style of play Slippery Rock is employing this season on both ends of the floor.

The frenetic pace helped the Rockets get some easy points — both in transition and on set inbound plays — after Knoch baskets.

His team's inability at times to get back on defense was a source of consternation for Knoch coach Josh Shoop.

“Defensively, we weren't very good,” Shoop said. “We weren't doing the things we were supposed to be doing. It's disappointing our defensive effort was poor tonight.

“All (the Rockets) were doing was running the floor,” Shoop added. “Guys just weren't ready mentally.”

Knoch (2-5) built an 18-8 cushion with a minute remaining in the first, but Slippery Rock went on a 14-0 run to erase the lead.

The Rockets never trailed again.

Slippery Rock pushed its lead to as many as 10 points late in the third quarter, but Knoch managed to whittle it down to 61-58 midway through the fourth.

The Rockets have had trouble closing out games with late leads this season, but not against the Knights.

“The kids are playing hard,” Bushre said. “Now, they are playing smart. This was important because now they know they can do it.”

Dustin Mellot hit two huge 3-pointers for Slippery Rock, the second one coming after Knoch had cut the lead to three.

“He's just been dying to see the bottom of the net,” Bushre said for Mellot.

Jack Boros scored 15 points to lead Knoch, which also received Mike Schenck back for the first time this season. He didn't disappoint in his season debut with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

“It's nice to have him back,” Shoop said. “It's nice to have some offense, but again, it's hard for me to think about offense with our defense giving up 72 points.”

Burrell 63, Freeport 55 (OT) — Brendan Lynch couldn't miss.The Freeport junior guard scored 24 points in the first half on 9-of-9 shooting. He also scored all 15 of the Yellowjackets' points in the second quarter as Freeport built a 30-24 lead over Burrell at the half.However, the Yellowjackets (3-3) couldn't hold the lead and struggled in OT.Matt Hess scored 16 points — 12 in the second half and overtime — and Kyle Legters was 5-of-6 from the line in the extra period for Burrell (7-1).Lynch ended up with 31 points to pace the Yellowjackets, but attempted only three shots in the final 20 minutes.

KNOCH 66Mike Schenck 5-6 3-3 13, Jack Boros 5-7 4-5 15, Alex Strezeski 4-6 2-3 10, Dakota Bruggeman 4-8 1-2 9, Tavita Lio 2-6 0-0 4, James Larrimer 1-1 0-0 2, Mike Cunningham 1-3 2-2 4, Marc Vaughan 4-9 2-2 10, Phil Kletzli 0-2 0-0 0.

Totals: 26-46 14-17 66.

SLIPPERY ROCK 72Sean White 0-3 0-0 0, Ryan Currie 4-5 1-2 9, Ryan Thompson 3-5 5-8 11, Caleb Whitney 5-9 3-4 14, Dustin Mellot 2-7 2-2 8, Ty Udy 6-8 5-6 17, Bobby Paczkowski 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Rummel 1-1 1-2 4, Dan Bertozzi 3-3 2-3 8, Jake Whitmer 0-0 1-2 1.

Totals: 24-41 20-29 72.

Knoch 18 13 16 19—66Slippery Rock 12 25 16 19—723-point goals: Knoch 0; Slippery Rock 4 (Mellot 2, Whitney, Rummel).

Today: Knoch vs. Freeport, 5 p.m.; Slippery Rock vs. Burrell, 6:30 p.m.

BURRELL 63Matt Hess 6-14 4-7 16, Alex White 5-13 0-2 11, Ryan Puchak 2-3 0-0 4, Pete Spagrolo 4-9 2-3 10, Jake Prefling 2-9 2-2 8, Nick Nitkowski 1-2 2-2 4, Kyle Legters 2-4 5-6 10.

Totals: 22-54 15-20 63 .

FREEPORT 55Brendan Lynch 10-12 7-9 31, Ryan Dunn 3-13 0-0 7, Robbie Miller 2-8 3-5 8, Alex Carson 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Carson 1-2 0-0 2, Tony DiVivo 2-6 1-2 5, Rob Palko 1-1 0-1 2, Jordan Ziemianski 0-0 0-0 0, Fred Pastoria 0-1 0-1 0.

Totals: 19-43 11-18 55.

Burrell 11 13 17 10 12—63Freeport 15 15 11 10 4—553-point goals: Burrell 4 (White, Prefling 2, Legters); Freeport 6 (Lynch 4, Dunn, Miller).

Today: Knoch vs. Freeport, 5 p.m.; Slippery Rock vs. Burrell, 6:30 p.m.