SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team saw its upset bid come up just short in a 78-74 loss to No. 9 Indiana University (Pa.) Wednesday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game from Morrow Field House.
 
The Rock trailed 74-72 and had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead on a final possession, but turned the ball over when an offensive foul was called for an illegal screen away from the ball with 20 seconds to play. IUP made all four of its free throw attempts in the final 15 seconds to seal the win.
 
Slippery Rock slips to 6-8 overall and 2-6 in PSAC games with the loss, while IUP escaped with the win to improve to 12-1 overall and 7-1 in PSAC games.
 
Indiana led for more than 39 minutes and never trailed in the game, but could never pull away from Slippery Rock. The Crimson Hawks largest lead of the night was 11 points at 61-50 with 13:25 to play in the second half.
 
From there, Slippery Rock put together an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to three points with just under eight minutes to play. The Rock would cut that margin down to one point on two occasions in the final seven minutes, but would never manage to score a go-ahead bucket.
 
The deciding factor in the game came down to 3-point shooting. Just two days after making 14 3-pointers and shooting better than 63 percent from long range Monday night against Cal U, Slippery Rock went cold from deep, connecting on just 3-of-23 shots from 3-point. On the other end of the floor, IUP made 10-of-27 attempts from deep to outscore SRU 30-9 from the 3-point line.
 
The Rock made four more field goals in the game, but couldn't recover from the 3-point deficit or the free throw deficit. SRU finished the night shooting 42.0 percent from the field (29-of-69), 13.0 percent from 3-point (3-of-23) and 86.7 percent from the free throw line (13-of-15). The Rock posted a 46-27 advantage in total rebounds, which included 23 offensive rebounds.
 
Indiana took nearly half of its shots from the floor from beyond the 3-point line and finished the night 44.6 percent from the field (25-of-56), 37.0 percent from 3-point (10-of-27) and 81.8 percent from the free throw line (18-of-22). Both teams turned the ball over less than 10 times with IUP posting a slim 9-6 edge in the turnover department.
 
Will Robinson Jr. led The Rock with 21 points and seven rebounds. Micah Till recorded his second double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds as the only other SRU player in double figures.
 
All nine players that saw the floor for SRU recorded points in the game. Jared Armstrong finished with eight points, Deontae Robertson and Jason Fowlkes each scored seven points and Amante Britt and Revelinio Tholel both added five points. Robertson also pulled down 10 rebounds and Fowlkes blocked a career-high five shots.
 
Indiana was led by guards Malik Miller and Armoni Foster, who both finished with 23 points. Ethan Porterfield added 11 points as those three combined to score 57 of IUP's 78 total points.
 
Slippery Rock will look to shake off the close loss when it travels to Seton Hill Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip.



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