SLIPPERY ROCK — It was a little rough.

“A little rough? It was a lot rough,” said Slippery Rock University men's basketball coach Kevin Reynolds.

A little rough or a lot rough, The Rock was still able to hold off Ohio Valley for a 91-77 win in the home opener at Morrow Field House Thursday night.

“That's been our story so far this whole year,” Reynolds said. “We haven't played so far with the type of energy or enthusiasm that we expect, that we played for five years with. Guys aren't playing with that same chip on their shoulder.”

The Rock (2-1) looked sluggish and made uncharacteristic mistakes during stretches of the home win.

There were stretches, too, where SRU played like a team that has won 99 games under Reynolds in five-plus seasons, including 23 last season and a NCAA Division II first-round playoff win.

SRU was up by as many as 11 in the first half and 19 in the second half before watching Ohio Valley cut deeply into those leads.

The Rock, though, never lost the lead during those runs to the dismay of Ohio Valley coach Mike Snell.

“Any time we would make a run, it just seemed like they would make a run right back at us,” Snell said. “We were watching them on film, we were really worried about the rebounding. I thought we held our own considering their size. They are just super athletic.”

The Rock finally pulled away for good in the final seven minutes of the game.

After Ohio Valley trimmed the SRU advantage to 69-66, The Rock outscored the Fighting Scots 22-11 down the stretch.

Point guard Sa'Quan Davis was a big part of that surge with the way he ran the team on the floor and hit his free throws.

Davis was 8-of-9 from the line.

“Sa'Quan was very good,” Reynolds said. “Twelve points, five assists, three steals. He ran the team. We were happy with him.”

Maurice Lewis-Briggs scored 21 points and added 14 rebounds to lead The Rock.

Lewis-Briggs, a 6-foot-8 forward, is now averaging 19.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in the early part of this season.

“Maurice stepped up. We expect Maurice to get those kind of numbers,” Reynolds said. “We have high expectations of him. In 27 minutes, the guys gets 21 and 14.”

Tabari Perry had 19 points, Kelvin Dixon 11 and Antonio Butler 10 off the bench for The Rock.

Reynolds used 11 players with only two of those getting less than 10 minutes.

Part of that had to do with the uneven play, Reynolds said.

“It was a bad performance,” Reynolds said. “Partly coaching. Partly playing.

“Some of the guys who are giving us empty minutes, we have to move them down,” Reynolds added. “Some of the guys who give us good minutes ... we have to give a little more minutes.”

The Rock will have nearly a week to iron out the kinks before it opens the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schedule at home against Clarion Wednesday.

“We have to get better, as a coaching staff and a group,” Reynolds said. “We wanted to be 3-0 at this point and we're disappointed. But, it's a long season. We have to get back to work tomorrow.”

OHIO VALLEY 77

Sequan Lawrence 2-15 14-18 18, Artus Vitins 6-12 0-1 12, Jerry Macon Jr. 5-10 0-0 13, Gerald McDonald 1-4 0-0 3, Povilas Dambrauskas 1-3 1-2 3, Tyler Davis 2-3 0-0 4, Austin Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Osvaldas Gaizauskas 0-2 2-2 2, Robert Smelser 0-1 0-0 0, Guiler Bettinger 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 23-60 23-31 77.

SLIPPERY ROCK 91

Maurice Lewis-Briggs 7-16 6-8 21, Tabari Perry 6-11 4-4 19, Kelvin Dixon 4-10 3-5 11, Josh Martin 1-6 0-0 2, Sa'Quan Davis 2-4 8-9 12, Maxx Rynd 1-1 1-2 4, Jordan Grady 0-2 0-0 0, Matej Delinac 3-6 0-0 7, Abdul King 0-0 0-0 0, Antonio Butler 3-9 2-3 10, Erik Raleigh 2-4 1-2 5. Totals: 29-69 25-33 91.

Halftime score: SRU 40-33

3-point goals: Ohio Valley 8-24 (Lawrence 0-3, Vitins 0-1, Macon Jr. 3-6, McDonald 1-3, Dambrauskas 0-2, Sinickas 4-7, Gaizauskas 0-2. SRU 8-18 (Lewis-Briggs 1-3, Perry 3-3, Dixon 0-3, Martin 0-1, Rynd 1-1, Delinac 1-2, Butler 2-5