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EDINBORO, Pa. – Slippery Rock University never trailed in Saturday afternoon's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division men's basketball game but, in a fashion reminiscent of its nailbiting win last Wednesday over Kutztown University, needed a stretch run to lock up a 64-54 win over visiting Edinboro University.

The Rock, after holding a 14-point (47-33) lead with 14 minutes left to play, found themselves up by only one point, 55-54, with three minutes remaining Saturday.

That proved to be the extent of Edinboro's comeback, though, as SRU sank seven of eight free-throw attempts as part of a 9-0 run in the final 180 seconds to record their third consecutive victory.

The win improved The Rock's season record to 13-4 and their PSAC-West mark to 4-1.

SRU is now idle for one week before hosting Mercyhurst University in a 3 p.m. division game Jan. 18 in Morrow Field House.

The Rock are one-half game behind division-leading and sixth-ranked Indiana (Pa.) and one-half game ahead of third-place Mercyhurst in the division standings following Indiana's 53-50 win Saturday at Mercyhurst.

With its loss to The Rock, Edinboro dropped to 7-7 overall and 0-4 in PSAC-West action.

Junior forward Kelvin Dixon scored four of the final nine Rock points to cap a game-high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds. Senior center Maurice Lewis-Briggs added 14 points and senior forward Tabari Perry collected nine points, a game-high 15 rebounds and seven assists in a supporting role.

Jonny Marsh scored a team-high 14 points for Edinboro. Bryan Theriot finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and Henri Wade-Chatman added 11 points and eight rebounds.

Theriot, a 6-foot-9, 270-pound senior, entered the game ranked in the top six in the conference in both scoring (19.2 points per game) and rebounding (8.2 per game).

The Rock made 40% (22 of 55) of its field-goal attempts, hit 30% (6 of 20) of its 3-point attempts and 82% (14 of 17) of its free throws.

Edinboro made 33% (20 of 60) of its field-goal attempts, 16% (3 of 19) of its long-range shots and 73% (11 of 15) of its free throws.

The Rock, who have ruled the backboards in 14 of their first 17 games, outrebounded the Fighting Scots by a 42-35 margin, but were on the high side of a 15-11 turnover comparison.

SRU broke a 2-2 tie with a string of 10 unanswered points to take a 12-2 lead with 15 minutes left in the first half before Edinboro gradually clawed its way back to a six-point, 32-25, deficit at halftime.

A second 10-2 Rock run to open the second half of action pushed The Rock lead to 41-27 with 17:20 left to play. As mentioned earlier, SRU also enjoyed a 14-point lead with 14:00 left to play. Edinboro trimmed the deficit to six points, 47-41, two minutes later (12:00) as part of its failed comeback effort.