Boxscore

EDINBORO, Pa. – Junior forward Maron Brown scored 20 or more points for a fourth successive game Saturday afternoon but could not lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a come-from-behind victory.

Hosting Edinboro University held off a valiant Rock comeback effort to escape with an 82-80 win in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action.

The loss was SRU's third in the last five games and dropped the Green and White's overall record to 12-3 and evened its division mark at 1-1.

The Rock returns to action Wednesday, when it will host Gannon in an 8 p.m. division game in Morrow Field House.

Brown scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to record his seventh #double-double# of the season. He was one of three Rock players who scored 10 or more points.

Junior guard Jabril Bailey chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds and senior guard Cecil Brown scored 13 points for The Rock.

Byron Knight had a 17-point, 11-rebound “double-double” for Edinboro (7-8 overall, 1-1 PSAC-W), while Cory Somerville, who played at SRU as a freshman in 2007-08, added 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Rock had a chance to send the game into overtime with 3.9 seconds left, but senior guard Maurice Douglas was unable to convert both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

Douglas made the first shot to trim the margin to 81-80, but missed the second attempt. Edinboro's Justin Moore grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made one of two free throws to set the final margin.

A last-ditch, left-of-the-court pass by The Rock following Moore's made free throw was intercepted to end the suspense.

The Rock finished the game with a 39% (28-72) efficiency on its field goal attempts, including a 29% (9-31) showing from beyond the 3-point arc, and sank 15 of 22 (68%) free throws.

Edinboro shot 41% (30-73) from the field, made 21% (4-19) of its long-range attempts and sank 18 of 23 (78%) free throws.

The Fighting Scots outrebounded SRU by a 54-41 margin but had more turnovers, 12-8.

The score was tied three times early in the game (at 2, 5 and 7) before Edinboro went on a 9-0 run to take a lead it would ultimately not relinquish.

Down by a 16-7 score, The Rock battled back to trim the margin to four points, 18-14, with 14 minutes left in the opening stanza.

The hosts' largest lead in the opening 20 minutes was a 13-point, 42-29, advantage with 90 seconds left.

SRU then scored the final five points of the half to trim the deficit to eight, 42-34, at the intermission.

The Rock shot an icy 30% (10-33) from the field in the first half that included a 4-of-16 effort from 3-point range and made 10 of 15 free throws.

Edinboro made 40% (14-35) of its field goal attempts, but was only 2-of-10 from beyond the arc, and sank 12 of 14 (86%) of its free throws.

The hosts outrebounded SRU by a 27-21 margin in the first half but had more turnovers, 7-5.

After trailing by eight points at halftime, The Rock clawed its way back and trimmed the margin to only two points, 59-57, with 8:15 left to play.

Edinboro responded with an 8-2 run to push the margin to eight, 67-59, with 6:30 remaining.

Trailing by a 78-69 score with 2:15 left, The Rock went on a 10-2 run to trim the margin to only one point, 80-79, with 35 seconds left. Cecil Brown scored five of the points during the run, senior guard Andre Tarver buried a trey and Bailey scored on a layup.

The Rock had a chance to tie the score at 81 after Edinboro's Gary Bess was only able to sink one of two free throws with 29 seconds left, but a layup attempt by Bailey got blocked with 16 ticks on the clock.

SRU retained possession and, after a timeout by Rock head coach Kevin Reynolds, Douglas drove to the basket and was fouled with 3.9 seconds remaining.

Douglas made the front end of a one-and-one opportunity but left the second one short. Edinboro's Justin Moore grabbed the rebound and was fouled with one second left on the clock.

Moore missed the first shot of a two-shot free throw opportunity and made the second one.

The Rock's last-ditch, length-of-the-court pass was then intercepted.

Notes:

Reynolds remains tied with Cliff Wettig (1973-75) for the most wins by a Rock head coach in his first two seasons. Reynolds has won 33 of 44 games as the Green and White's head coach … Maron Brown has averaged 24.3 points and 12.3 rebounds in the last four games.