Dec. 21, 2005

Box Score

Slippery Rock, Pa. - The Rock erased a 10-point halftime deficit to tie the score just under five minutes left to play Wednesday night, but could not convert the effort into a victory.

Bloomsburg scored the final eight points of the game to hand SRU its seventh straight loss, 78-70, in non-conference action in Morrow Field House.

Overshadowed by the loss was a "double-double" performance by senior center Dejan Jancic, who scored 17 points and 13 rebounds, and solid offensive efforts by freshmen Matt Hale and Erroll Robinson.

Hale tied Jancic for team-high scoring honors with 17 points, while Robinson chipped in 16 points.

Matt Schaefer added eight points for The Rock, while Brandon Thompson had four points and six assists as The Rock starters combined to score 62 of the team's 70 points.

The Rock waged a come-from-behind battle virtually the entire night as SRU led for only a minute and a half of the 40-minute contest.

The score was tied six times in the first half, the final one a 21-21 stalemate with 9:45 left before halftime.

Bloomsburg outscored The Rock by a 23-10 margin in the next eight minutes to take a 44-31 advantage with 1:45 left before The Rock closed the deficit to 45-35 at halftime.

The Rock chipped away at the Huskies' lead for the first 15-plus minutes of the final half before finally pulling even at 66-66 with 4:40 left to play.

A layup by Robinson 40 seconds later gave The Rock its first lead of the game.

Two minutes later, the score was tied at 70-70. The Rock then failed to score a point in the final 90 seconds of action.

SRU is idle until Dec. 28, when it will take on Lincoln Memorial University of Tennessee in the opening round of the Holiday Inn Express Classic at Ashland University.

The Rock will then meet either the hosting Eagles or Malone (Ohio) College the following night to close out the 2005 portion of its schedule.