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WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team saw its season come to an end Sunday with a 73-65 setback against Indiana University (Pa.) in the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament at West Liberty University.
 
The seventh seeded Rock finish their 2014-15 season with a 21-11 overall record and a second appearance in the NCAA Round of 32 in the last three years. Third seeded Indiana improves to 28-6 overall and advances to the regional final.
 
Everything clicked for Slippery Rock for the first seven minutes of the game as The Rock carried the momentum from Saturday's upset over No. 2 seed Gannon into a dominant start. SRU shot 75 percent from the field, knocked down five 3-pointers and jumped out to a 12-point lead, 19-7 with 14:25 to play in the first half.
 
Slippery Rock led nearly the entire first half, but Indiana chipped away at the advantage slowly and cut it to three points, 36-33 at halftime.
 
Entering Sunday's game, Slippery Rock was a perfect 18-0 with a halftime lead, but the hot start quickly evaporated as momentum shifted early in the second half.
 
The Rock opened the half with back-to-back turnovers and Indiana knocked down shots on its end of the floor to take its first lead since the opening basket.
 
From there, the teams would trade the lead five times until the Crimson Hawks took a 50-49 lead with 7:57 to play and never looked back. They put together a 12-2 run to take a 60-51 lead with 4:06 to play.
 
Slippery Rock tried to chip away at the advantage down the stretch, but Indiana was nearly flawless from the free throw line and never allowed The Rock back into the game.
 
Indiana finished the game shooting 89.7 percent from the free throw line (26-of-29), while Slippery Rock was just 60 percent (9-of-15).
 
"They are so good at the line," said head coach Kevin Reynolds. "I think this is the fourth or fifth time in the last three years that we have lost a game to Indiana where we made more shots from the field. It's frustrating because we got outscored by 17 points at the line tonight, but they made the plays and got the ball to drop in the second half. We just didn't make enough plays late."
 
Slippery Rock made 25 field goals and six 3-pointers in the game, while Indiana made 22 field goals and three 3-pointers. The Rock finished the game shooting 43.1 percent from the field (25-of-58) and 37.5 percent from 3-point (6-of-16). Indiana shot 52.4 percent from the field (22-of-42) and 33.3 percent from 3-point (3-of-9).
 
Slippery Rock posted a 34-24 advantage in total rebounds and used 17 offensive rebounds to score 21 second chance points. Indiana grabbed only five offensive boards and converted those into seven second chance points.

Perhaps the most telling statistic of the game was points in the paint, where Indiana managed a 34-28 edge.
 
"We wanted to chase them off the 3-point line tonight," said Reynolds. "They beat us from 3-point the last time we played them and we wanted to take that away. We did a great job of that. They only made three and only took nine, but Chance and Dyer beat us on the dribble. Those guys got to the rim and scored inside when we took the long shot away."
 
Slippery Rock was paced by a 22-point night from Malcolm Richardson, who also handed out four assists and grabbed seven rebounds. Frank Holloway added 12 points and Antonio Butler scored 10 points for his 24th consecutive double figure scoring effort.
 
Chaquille Pratt scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds and Abdul King chipped in five points to cap the top scorers for SRU.
 
Indiana was led by a game-high 23 points from Shawn Dyer, who is comfortable playing on the court at West Liberty. Dyer, a graduate student, played his undergraduate career at West Liberty before transferring to Indiana this year for his final season of eligibility. Included in those 23 points was a perfect 10-of-10 effort at the free throw line.
 
Devante Chance added 16 points, Brandon Norfleet scored 12 points and Daddy Ugbede scored 11 points for the Crimson Hawks.
 
Sunday night's loss marks the end of the seventh season in Reynolds career at SRU. He has led the team to an overall record of 138-72 over that stretch and has posted five seasons with at least 20 wins. The Rock was making their fifth overall appearance in the national tournament and their third under Reynolds. SRU is now 3-6 all-time in the tourney and 2-3 under Reynolds, who has led the team to at least the second round twice in the last three years.
 
It also marks the end of the career for Butler, who was outstanding this year. The first team All-Conference selection scored in double figures the last 24 games of the year and 29 of the team's 32 total games.