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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University blew a 15-point lead, but then scored the final seven points of the game Wednesday night to record a wild, 54-48 win over visiting Kutztown University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference men's basketball "crossover" action in Morrow Field House.

The Rock held their largest lead of the game, 42-27, with 13:30 left to play but then got out of sync and only scored  six points in the next 10 minutes.

Kutztown took advantage of the SRU scoring drought to take its only lead of the game, 48-47, with three minutes left.

Neither team scored for the next 90 seconds before an acrobatic, off-balance three-point play the old-fashioned way by Rock senior center Maurice Lewis-Briggs produced what proved to be the game-winning points.

Lewis-Briggs' crucial basket gave him a game-high 21 points in the game, but more importantly gave The Rock, members of the PSAC-Western Division, their 12th win in 16 overall games and fourth in six meetings this winter with PSAC-Eastern Division rivals.

Kutztown suffered its sixth consecutive defeat and saw its season record fall to 3-10.

Lewis-Briggs, who also grabbed seven rebounds to share game-high honors with teammate Kelvin Dixon, was the only Rock player to score more than 10 points and one of only two players to reach double digits in the game.

Dixon, a junior forward, finished the game with seven points. Senior forward Tabari Perry scored nine points and had six rebounds for The Rock.

Junior guard Antonio Butler and redshirt sophomore forward Erik Raleigh each sank a pair of free throws following Lewis-Briggs' three-point play to extend The Rock lead to its final six-point status.

Tracy Peal scored a team-high 17 points for Kutztown, while Austin Beidelman added nine points and Elijah Jackson grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

SRU shot 40% (19 of 48) from the field, 27% (4 of 15) from 3-point range and 75% (12 of 16) from the foul line.

Kutztown made 35% (19 of 55) of its action shots, one of eight (19%) of its long-range shots and 56% (9 of 16) of its free throws.

The Golden Knights became only the second team this season to outrebound The Rock as the guests grabbed 39 missed shots compared to 34 by SRU. Each team committed 15 turnovers.

As mentioned previously, The Rock only trailed on one occasion in the game, 48-47 with three minutes left to play.

SRU had a seven-point, 30-23 advantage at halftime after holding a 13-point, 22-9 lead with 7:30 left before intermission.

The Rock return to action Saturday when they travel to Edinboro for a 3 p.m. game to open a string of 12 consecutive PSAC-West dates that will close out the regular-season schedule.

Following Saturday's game, The Rock are idle for one week, then entertain Mercyhurst in a 3 p.m. game Jan. 18 in Morrow Field House.

Notes: Wednesday's game marked the fifth consecutive outing and 12th time in 16 games this winter Lewis-Briggs scored 10 or more points … With the win, The Rock improved its home record this winter to 7-2 and its Morrow Field House mark under sixth-year head coach Kevin Reynolds to 62-17 (.785) … The Rock put a 5-1 road record this winter and a 40-32 road mark under Reynolds on the line Saturday at Edinboro … Wednesday's win, The Rock's fourth in five meetings with Kutztown under Reynolds' guidance, gave SRU a 25-15 (.625) mark against PSAC-East rivals in the six seasons since Reynolds was named as The Rock's head coach.