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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Rock scored the first 11 points of the game Wednesday night and never looked back en route to a 73-68 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division win over visiting Indiana U. of Pa.

In the process, The Rock moved into a tie with IUP for fourth place in the PSAC-West standings. Both SRU (7-17 overall) and IUP (12-12) own 4-5 division marks with three games remaining in the conference season.

That sets an interesting final 10 days of the conference season.

Both SRU and IUP have games against last-place Shippensburg and division-leading California remaining this winter. The Rock then closes out its regular-season schedule with a March 1 home game vs. third-place Clarion, while IUP takes on sixth-place Lock Haven in its finale.

At stake is a berth in the conference playoffs. The top four teams in the PSAC-West at the end of the regular season will advance to postseason play.

SRU has not earned a PSAC playoff berth since the 1999-2000 season, when the Green and White played in the conference finals.

Wednesday's win was the second straight for SRU and marked the first time this season that the Green and White have been victorious in back-to-back games.

Junior guard Matt Schaefer pumped in 16 points to lead a group of four double-figure scorers for The Rock . All five of his baskets came on 3-point shots.

Junior point guard Darnell Johnson buried three treys and finished with 15 points, while junior wing player Jamar Scales chipped in 12 points, a team-high five rebounds and four assists and junior post player Joseph Vines added 11 points, four assists and three steals.

Gerald Brooks had game-high totals in points (20) and rebounds (8) for IUP.

The Rock held IUP scoreless for almost four minutes to open the game en route to the 11-0 lead and never led by less than six points in the opening 20 minutes.

The Crimson Hawks trimmed the deficit to 22-16 margin with 9:30 left in the first half before The Rock regained the momentum and pushed the margin to 10, 40-30, at intermission.

Indiana never trimmed the margin to less than five points in the final 20 minutes of action.

The Rock shot 55.2% (16 of 29) from the floor in the first half before cooling off to a 39.1% (9 of 23) efficiency in the final half to finish with a respectable 48.1% showing.

SRU nailed 57.9% (11 of 19) of its 3-point shots in the game and shot 63.2% (12 of 19) from the foul line.

IUP, after shooting 37.5% (9 of 24) from the field in the first half, hit 61.5% (16 of 26) of its second-half shots to finish with a 50% efficiency.

The Crimson Hawks hit 33.3% (7 of 21) from beyond the arc and 68.8% (11 of 16) from the charity stripe.

IUP held a 27-26 rebounding edge and was on the negative side of an 11-9 turnover comparison.

SRU travels to Shippensburg for a 3 p.m. game Saturday before it visits California for an 8 p.m. game next Wednesday.

The regular-season finale vs. Clarion is set for 3 p.m. March 1 in Morrow Field House.