WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team led by as many as 15 points, but a four-minute scoring drought at the end of regulation resulted in a 65-62 West Chester University comeback victory Friday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference competition.
 
The loss snaps Slippery Rock's two-game winning streak and drops its record to 4-4 overall and 1-3 in PSAC play. West Chester, which received votes in the latest NABC top 25 poll, maintained a perfect record at 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the PSAC.
 
Slippery Rock led by 15 points late in the first period and eventually took a 13-point lead, 39-26, into halftime. SRU held West Chester to a 23.5 field goal percentage through the first 20 minutes of competition.
 
West Chester chipped away at The Rock's lead through the opening 16 minutes of the second half, but Slippery Rock managed to maintain a seven-point advantage at 62-55 with 4:07 remaining in the period.
 
However, everything that could go wrong over the final four minutes of regulation for Slippery Rock did. SRU went 0-for-6 from the field and committed four turnovers while West Chester made a pair free throws, a layup and two 3-pointers, including a triple by Mike Wilson with four seconds remaining in regulation to pull off the comeback win.
 
Slippery Rock was paced by senior guard Malcolm Richardson and senior center Cornelius Brown. Richardson had 17 points, three assists and three rebounds while Brown went for 12 points and seven rebounds, just missing out on his seventh double-double of the season.
 
Senior guard Jamal Gatali and junior guard Jordan Marrow added nine and eight  points, respectively, while junior forward Chaquille Pratt and senior guard Dontay Jackson had six and five points each. Pratt also added eight rebounds and two steals. Marrow's eight points were a season-high.
 
SRU held advantages over West Chester in field goal percentage (39.2 – 33.9) and 3-pointers made (7-6), but committed 17 turnovers to West Chester's 11 while being uncharacteristically outrebounded 45-37.

Wilson had 26 points, five rebounds and four steals for West Chester.
 
Slippery Rock will look to return to its winning ways 4 p.m. Saturday at Cheyney University.