GROVE CITY — Those high school basketball fans familiar with the Grove City/Slippery Rock boys rivalry must have figured a run was coming.

But would it be enough to lift the host Eagles to victory?

Slippery Rock's lead was pushed to 38-27 when Caleb Whitney drained a 3-pointer with 3:19 left in the third quarter.

Grove City then went on a 26-10 run to close the game, treating its fans to a 53-48 region win over the Rockets at the Eagle's Nest.

“This is a great rivalry,” said Rockets' coach Phil Bushre. “No lead is safe when these two teams get together. Over the last four years, whether we're up in a game or they're up, there's always that last push and it often determines who wins the game.”

The Eagles (3-1) opened the fourth quarter on a 12-0 run to take a 51-42 lead with 4:07 remaining. Included in the flurry was a huge 3-pointer from Matt Thrasher with 5:42 left as Grove City capitalized on Slippery Rock turnovers.

Slippery Rock (0-3) went the first four-plus minutes of the period without a point, but finally scored on Sean White's basket from just inside the arc.

That was followed by Dustin Mellott's 3-pointer, cutting the Rockets' deficit to 51-47.

The teams traded turnovers before Grove City's Torin Smith hit a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left.

Slippery Rock's desperation 3-point attempts did not fall as the Eagles celebrated the region triumph.

“We were lucky to win tonight,” said Eagles' coach Don Fee. “Slippery Rock played well, especially defensively. I think we got caught up in the crowd tonight, all the noise.”

“We competed and you can't take that away from our guys,” said Bushre. “We just lost focus on the offensive end.”

Grove City led 16-13 after one quarter, but it was the Rockets who controlled the second period, outscoring the Eagles 18-8.

Junior forward Ryan Currie scored all six of his points in the second quarter and Ryan Thompson added seven of his team-leading 10 points as the Rockets held a 31-24 edge at the break.

“We went on runs and they went on runs, that's going to happen in basketball,” said Bushre. “This is just one game and right now our focus is on Franklin (Tuesday).”

Five players scored at least seven points for the Eagles, led by Jordan Patterson's 11 and Thrasher's 10. Patterson, a 6-foot-5 forward, scored nine of his points in the second half.

“Teams are going to focus on Torin and we're going to need those other guys to step up,” said Fee. “Jordan gave us a lift tonight, we got the ball inside.”

SLIPPERY ROCK 48Dan Bertozzi 1 0-0 2, Ryan Thompson 3 3-4 10, Caleb Whitney 2 0-0 5, Ryan Currie 3 0-0 6, Ty Udy 3 2-2 8, Sean White 2 2-2 6, Dustin Mellott 2 0-0 6, Bobby Paczkowski 0 1-2 1, Jacob Whitmer 1 1-2 4.

Totals: 17 9-12 48.

GROVE CITY 53Alec Goodwin 4 0-0 8, Donte Robinson 1 1-2 3, Torin Smith 2 2-4 7, Alex Hall 1 5-7 7, Matt Thrasher 4 0-0 10, Foster Reznor 2 3-6 7, Jordan Patterson 5 1-5 11.

Totals: 19 12-24 53.

Slippery Rock 13 18 11 6—48Grove City 16 8 15 14—533-point goals: Slippery Rock 5 (Mellott 2, Whitmer, Thompson, Whitney); Grove City 3 (Thrasher 2, Smith).

Tuesday: Grove City at Mercer; Franklin at Slippery Rock