SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa – A pair of extended scoring droughts/lapses in defense spelled defeat Wednesday night for the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team and put The Rock's quest for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament berth in doubt.

Gannon University outscored SRU by a 14-3 margin in the final six minutes of the first half and followed that up with an 18-3 run midway through the final 20 minutes en route to an 80-73 PSAC-Western Division win in Morrow Field House.

The loss was the second consecutive sustained by The Rock and dropped the Green and White (16-9, 13-8 PSAC) into a tie with California, Pa. (16-11, 13-8 PSAC) for third place in the PSAC-West standings.

The Rock can cash a ticket to their second consecutive PSAC tournament and third in Kevin Reynolds' four seasons as SRU's head coach with a win over Clarion (15-12, 11-10 PSAC) in Saturday's regular-season finale at Morrow (3 p.m. tipoff).

Adam Blazek scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed six rebounds Wednesday night for Gannon (14-11 overall, 12-9 PSAC). Darrell Blanton added 17 points and five rebounds, Oscar Macias chipped in 11 points, Tanner Furno had nine points and Alvin Tucker snared seven rebounds.

Freshman Chaquille Pratt continued his torrid scoring pace with 19 points to lead The Rock attack. He has now scored 67 points (13.4 per game) in the last five games after averaging 3.8 points per game in his first 19 games this winter.

Junior John Bayardelle (pictured) added 12 points for SRU, junior Aubin Reeves chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds, senior Jon Valeriano nailed three 3-point shots to finish with nine points and junior Tabari Perry added eight points and six rebounds.

The Rock shot 42% (27-65) from the field, 43% (12-28) from 3-point range and 78% (7-9) from the foul line.

Gannon, had a 37-31 rebounding advantage and was only the fourth team to outrebound SRU this winter, made 49% (28-57) of its field-goal attempts, hit 46% (6-13) of its long-range shots and sank 82% (18-22) of its free throws.

Each team committed 16 turnovers.

The Rock trailed for the first four and a half minutes of action before Valeriano buried 3-point shots back-to-back-to-back to give the hosts a 14-9 lead with 15 minutes left in the first half.

A short time later, Pratt personally accounted for a 6-0 Rock run that pushed the advantage to 20-12 with 13:15 left in the first half.

SRU held a 10-point, 35-25, lead with 6:15 left before halftime, but was then outscored by the aforementioned 14-3 margin down the stretch as Gannon took a 39-38 edge into the intermission.

The Rock started the second half with a 6-0 run to regain the lead and had a three-point, 48-45, advantage with 14:30 left to play in the game.

But, just like at the end of the first half, Gannon then took advantage of an out-of-sync Rock attack to outscore the hosts by an 18-3 margin in the next five minutes for a 63-51 advantage with 9:15 left to play.

The Rock clawed its way back to within five points, 73-68, with one minute remaining but never overcame that second Golden Knights run.

Playoff scenarios – A Rock win Saturday over Clarion would assure SRU no worse than a tie with California for third place in the division standings, which would guarantee the Green and White a postseason berth since the top four teams in the division advance to the conference tournament.

If The Rock and California finish with the same conference record, SRU would earn the PSAC-West's No. 3 seed in the conference tournament by virtue of its 2-0 record in head-to-head meeting this winter with the Vulcans.

SRU can also earn a conference playoff berth if Gannon loses Saturday at division champion and 17th-ranked Indiana, Pa. (21-4, 18-3 PSAC).

A third scenario that could earn the Green and White a tournament berth would be a California loss in its final game Saturday at Edinboro (13-12, 11-10 PSAC), regardless of the outcome of the SRU-Clarion game.

If The Rock lose to Clarion, California loses to Edinboro and Gannon beats Indiana, there would be a three-way tie for third place between SRU, California and Gannon. The Rock would earn the No. 3 seed by virtue of its 3-1 head-to-head record vs. the other teams with which they were tied. California would then be the No. 4 seed by virtue of its 2-0 record head-to-head vs. Gannon.

The only way SRU can be denied a PSAC tournament berth is if The Rock lose to Clarion, California beats Edinboro and Gannon beats IUP. That would give California a 14-8 conference record and SRU and Gannon identical 13-9 conference records. The Golden Knights would get the playoff berth and SRU would be left on the outside looking in as a result of Gannon's win Saturday over IUP. The Rock were 0-2 against the Crimson Hawks.