Feb. 22, 2004

Box Score

Indiana, Pa. - Junior guard Jajuan Davis scored a team-high 22 points to lead The Rock scoring attack in an 89-73 loss at Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division archrival Indiana U. of Pa.

The loss dropped The Rock to 7-18 overall, 4-6 in conference play, but SRU remain tied for fourth place and in the hunt for a conference playoff berth.

Coupled with Clarion's loss at Lock Haven, the loss left The Rock and Clarion tied for the fourth and final playoff spot.

California U. of Pa. leads the division with a 9-1 record, followed by Edinboro at 8-2, Indiana at 7-4, The Rock and Clarion at 4-6, Lock Haven 3-8 and Shippensburg 1-9.

The Rock hosts California at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, before closing out the regular-season at Lock Haven (3 p.m.) on Feb. 28.

Clarion hosts Edinboro on Feb. 25 before travelling to Shippensburg on Feb. 28.

California, Edinboro and Indiana are already assured of playoff berths.

The tiebreaker scenario for the fourth playoff berth is too complicated to try to explain here, but it will come down to a comparision of head-to-head results against the other PSAC-West teams since The Rock and Clarion split their two in-season duels this winter.

In Saturday's game, The Rock stayed with the Indians for the first 30 minutes of action before Indiana took charge of the proceedings.

Indiana led by 12, 22-10, with 11:00 left in the first half, only to have The Rock roar back and cut the margin to two, 27-25, at the 5:30 mark and to one point, 35-34, with 2:35 left in the first half.

Indiana led by four points, 41-37, at halftime and extended its lead to 15 (56-41) in the first six minutes of the final half. The Rock cut the deficit to six points, 60-54, at the 10-minute mark but trailed by double-digit margins throughout the final eight minutes.

Junior guard Bill Johnson had 12 points and senior forward Jerome Smalls chipped in 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds in support of Davis' effort.