Boxscore

MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – Junior forward Maron Brown scored a season-high 24 points Saturday afternoon as the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team rebounded from its first loss of the season to record a 73-61 win over hosting Millersville.

The win in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference “crossover” action came six days after the Green and White dropped a 77-74 decision to Shippensburg and improved The Rock's season record to 11-1, which represents the best start in school history.

The Rock has now won 19 of its last 21 games and 19 of its last 20 regular-season games.

The Green and White put that string of success on the line Sunday (3 p.m. tipoff) when they visit a West Chester team that improved its record to 10-2 with a 75-71 win Saturday over Mercyhurst (9-3).

Conversely, Millersville (5-7) will seek to snap a six-game losing streak when it hosts Mercyhurst.

Brown, who also grabbed 11 rebounds, was one of two Rock players who recorded a “double-double” in Saturday's game. Junior guard Jabril Bailey scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

The “double-double” was the seventh recorded this season by Bailey and the fourth of the season recorded by Brown.

Senior guard Michael Evans Jr. scored 20 points to join Bailey and Brown as Rock players who finished Saturday's game with a double-digit scoring total. Senior guard Andre Tarver grabbed nine rebounds and scored seven points.

Jason Blake scored 18 points to lead Millersville.

The Rock finished the game with a 43% (26-60) efficiency on its field goal attempts that included an 8-of-26 (31%) accuracy from 3-point range.

Millersville shot 31% (22-70) from the field and 17% (4-24) from beyond the arc.

Both teams sank 13 of 20 free throws (65%).

Behind the lead of Bailey, Brown and Tarver, The Rock enjoyed a 52-34 rebounding advantage, but was on the high side of a 20-11 turnover comparison.

Millersville took the initial lead in the game, 2-0, but The Rock then went on a 22-5 run to take a 22-7 advantage with 12 minutes left in the opening half. Brown scored nine points during that run, Evans Jr. nailed two treys and senior guard Maurice Douglas added five points.

The hosts trimmed the margin to eight points, 33-25, with 3:45 left before halftime, only to see The Rock respond with a 7-0 run to push the margin back to 15, 40-25, with 60 seconds remaining before the intermission.

SRU held a 40-27 advantage at halftime behind a 47% (16-34) efficiency on field goal attempts that included a 35% (6-17) showing from 3-point range.

Millersville made only 30% (10-33) of its field goal attempts in the first half, including a 3-of-10 accuracy from beyond the arc.

Both teams were perfect on their first-half free throws, SRU sinking two and Millersville four, and both teams turned the ball over seven times.

The Rock held a 23-15 rebounding advantage at halftime.

Brown scored 13 of The Rock's first-half points, Evans Jr. had eight points and Bailey seven.

The Rock held a double-digit lead throughout the first eight minutes of the second half before Millersville went on a 13-2 run in the span of five minutes to trim the deficit to only one point, 51-50, with 7:30 left to play.

Brown then scored three straight 3-point plays, two of which were of the conventional variety, and Evans Jr. added five points to lead a 14-3 Rock run that pushed the lead back to 12 points, 65-53, with 3:30 left.

Millersville made one final run and trimmed the deficit to six points, 67-61, before The Rock made six of eight free throws to close out the scoring. Evans was 5-of-6 from the foul line down the stretch.

Notes:

Kevin Reynolds, who owns a 32-9 record as The Rock's head coach, is one win shy of the school record for most wins by a Rock men's head coach in his first two seasons. Cliff Wettig led The Rock to 33 wins from 1973-75, the only two seasons in which he was the Green and White's head coach … Saturday's win was the first Rock win over the Marauders since 1981-82 and snapped a string of 16 consecutive Rock losses in the all-time series … Millersville leads the all-time series by a 19-5 margin and is 9-1 against The Rock under 12th-year head coach Fred Thompson … Following Sunday's game at West Chester, The Rock opens the PSAC-Western Division schedule with an 8 p.m. home game against Mercyhurst in Morrow Field House.