ERIE, Pa. – If “stealing wins” on the road are truly keys to a successful season, the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team has laid a solid foundation for happiness.

For the second time in as many road games, The Rock overcame a chilly shooting effort Wednesday night to record a 70-63 nip-and-tuck win over hosting Gannon University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action.

The Rock trailed by 11 points with 14 minutes left to play before outscoring the Golden Knights by a 37-19 margin down the stretch.

The win was SRU's third straight and seventh in its last eight outings and improved the Green and White's season records to 12-5 overall, 9-4 in conference competition.

The Rock now turn their attention to Saturday's 3 p.m. home game vs. 16th-ranked and division-leading Indiana (Pa.), a rematch of last year's PSAC championship game won by the Crimson Hawks.

The Rock, after hosting Indiana, close out the first half of the PSAC-West schedule with a road game at Clarion next Wednesday, then entertain Mercyhurst in a 3 p.m. game Feb. 4 in Morrow Field House.

The PSAC-West standings at the conclusion of Wednesday night's action show Indiana (14-3 overall) in first place with an 11-2 PSAC record, one game better than second-place Mercyhurst (12-5, 10-3) and two games ahead of The Rock.

California (11-8, 8-5), by virtue of its road win Wednesday at Clarion, moved into a tie with the Golden Eagles (12-7, 8-5) for fourth place. Edinboro (9-8, 7-6) and Gannon (9-8, 7-6) are tied for sixth place with Lock Haven (0-16, 0-13) in the division cellar.

Junior forward Tabari Perry scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds Wednesday night for his second "double-double" performance of the season to lead The Rock effort. He was one of four Rock players who finished the game with 12 or more points.

Senior guard Devin Taylor added 14 points, junior guard John Bayardelle scored 13 points and senior point guard Jon Valeriano had 12 points and six assists. Junior center Luiz Santos grabbed nine rebounds, while freshman Chaquille Pratt added nine points and five rebounds.

Taylor, the PSAC's leading rebounder at over 11 per game, was held to only two Wednesday night as he was saddled with foul trouble for most of the game and played only 21 minutes.

Darrell Blanton had game-high totals of 25 points and 15 rebounds for Gannon, while Adam Blazek added 23 points and six rebounds.

The opening 20 minutes of action featured scoring runs by both teams and set the tone for 40 minutes of ebb-and-flow action.

The Rock jumped out to a 9-2 lead after three and a half minutes of action, only to have Gannon respond with a 7-0 run to knot the score at 9-9 with 13:30 left to play in the first half.

SRU answered the Gannon run with a string of six unanswered points in the next 90 seconds and a 15-9 lead before the hosts came back with an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the night, 17-15, with 7:45 left before halftime.

The Rock regained the lead at 20-19 with 4:15 left in the half, but again Gannon roared back with a 6-0 run to take its largest lead of the first half, a 25-20 advantage, with 2:20 left before the intermission.

That merely set the stage for a 5-0 Rock run in the final two-plus minutes that evened the score at 25-25 heading into the break.

The Rock had a cold shooting hand in the opening half as they made only 30% (8-27) of their shots from the floor and four of 10 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. Gannon was marginally better at 41% (11-27) from the field and one of five from long range.

The hosts held a distinct 21-14 rebounding advantage at halftime, but also had more turnovers by a 10-6 comparison.

Taylor scored 11 of The Rock's 25 first-half points, while Blanton had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Gannon.

The Rock shooting woes continued at the start of the second half as the Green and White missed five of their first seven shots from the floor. Gannon took advantage of that to score the first five and 19 of the first 27 second-half points and take a 44-33 lead six minutes into the final stanza.

The Rock clawed their way back, though, as they scored 18 of the next 25 points to tie the score at 51-51 with just less than eight minutes left to play in the game. Taylor buried a 3-point shot to tie the score.

Gannon came right back and scored the next six points to retake the momentum and hold a 57-51 advantage with 4:30 remaining.

Undaunted, The Rock responded with an 8-0 run to regain the lead, 59-57, with 3:20 left to play. Pratt scored five points in the span of 23 seconds to put The Rock on top.

Bayardelle then buried a pair of 3-point shots to push The Rock lead to 65-60 and ultimately seal the victory.

The Rock iced the win by canning five of six free throws in the closing minutes.

SRU finished the game with a 35% (23-65) efficiency on its action shots with a 39% (9-23) showing from 3-point range. The Rock made 65% (15-23) of their free throws, held a 42-40 rebounding advantage and also had less turnovers (14-11).

The Rock has now outrebounded 16 of 17 opponents this winter.

Gannon made 41% (24-59) of its field goal attempts, hit four of 12 shots from 3-point range and sank 11 of 13 (82%) free throws.