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EDINBORO, Pa. – Hosting Edinboro University outscored Slippery Rock University by a 19-5 margin in the final seven minutes Saturday afternoon to record a 62-59 victory in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division men's basketball action in McComb Field House.
The loss ended a four-game Rock win streak and, at least temporarily, knocked SRU (13-4 overall, 10-3 PSAC) out of a tie for first place in the PSAC-West standings.
The Rock entered Saturday's game deadlocked with ninth-ranked Indiana (Pa.) for the top spot.
Indiana (14-2, 10-2) hosted Mercyhurst (11-7, 7-5) in a 7:30 p.m. PSAC-West game Saturday, while third-place Gannon (15-3, 9-3) played a 7:30 p.m. game at Clarion (5-11, 3-9).
An Indiana loss Saturday night, coupled with a Gannon win, would result in The Rock, Gannon and IUP being tied for the top spot and elevate the importance of SRU's already-crucial next two games.
The Rock host Gannon in an 8 p.m. game Wednesday in Morrow Field House before they travel to Indiana for a 7:30 p.m. game next Saturday, Feb. 2.
Edinboro (11-6, 7-6) will also be watching Saturday night's action. A Mercyhurst loss in Indiana would drop the Lakers into a tie with Edinboro for fourth place in the division standings.
Isaiah Prince scored a game-high 28 points to lead Edinboro's winning attack vs. The Rock. Johnathan Logan added eight points and 10 rebounds and Jay Fletcher also scored eight points for the Fighting Scots.
Senior forward
Devin Taylor recorded team-high totals of 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead The Rock attack. Senior guards
Darious Clark and
Aubin Reeves each added 13 points, Clark grabbing seven rebounds, while senior forward
Gerald Brooks chipped in eight points and 10 rebounds.
The Rock finished the game with a 32% (22-of-69) efficiency on its field-goal attempts, hit 22% (6-of-27) from 3-point range and were 9-of-13 (69%) from the foul line.
Edinboro, meanwhile, shot 35%( 24 of 68) from the field, hit eight of 33 (24%) from beyond the arc and made six of 12 free throws.
The Rock outrebounded their opponent for the 16th time in 17 games this winter as they had a 50-46 backboard advantage over Edinboro. Each team turned the ball over 13 times.
The lead only changed hands on two occasions in the game and the score was tied once.
Edinboro opened the game with a 3-point barrage that propelled the hosts to a 15-5 lead after six minutes of action.
The Rock eventually recovered from that initial shock, but spent the remainder of the first half in comeback mode.
An 11-3 Rock run in the final nine minutes of the first half trimmed what had been a nine-point, 24-15, Edinboro lead to only a one-point difference, 27-26, at the break.
The Rock, after hitting only three of their first 14 shots from the field, ended the first half of action with a still-chilly 10-of-34 (29%) shooting effort that included a 3-of-15 efficiency from beyond the arc. The guests were 3-for-3 on free throws in the opening 20 minutes.
Edinboro, after scoring their first 15 points on 3-point shots, made only one long-range shot in the final 14 minutes of the stanza and ended the half with a 6-of-21 (29%) reading. The Fighting Scots had the same 29% (10-of-35) efficiency on their overall field-goal attempts and were 1-of-3 from the foul line.
The hosts dominated the rebounding battle early in the first half before The Rock's inside game got on track. Edinboro held a 27-23 edge on the backboard at halftime.
Prince buried four 3-point shots and had 14 of Edinboro's first-half points. Clark hit two treys en route to a team-best 10 first-half points for The Rock.
A layup by Taylor 10 seconds into the second half of action gave SRU its first lead of the game, 28-27. That basket began a 15-4 Rock run in the first five minutes of the final stanza that gave the Green and White a 41-31 lead with 15 minutes left to play.
The teams traded baskets for the next eight minutes of action before Edinboro scored eight unanswered points to trim The Rock lead to three points, 54-51, with 4:30 left to play.
A Taylor basket put The Rock up by five, 56-51, before Edinboro scored the next five points to tie the score at 56-56 with one minute left to play.
Reeves made one of two free throws with 54 seconds left to give The Rock a 57-56 edge, but that proved to be SRU's final lead of the game as Edinboro scored the next four points and six of the final eight points in the game.
