Boxscore

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Junior guard Jabril Bailey scored the final six Rock points Saturday afternoon to lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to a frenetic 78-77 win over visiting Edinboro in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action in Morrow Field House.

Bailey finished the game with a team-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds as The Rock kept alive its flickering hopes for a second straight trip to the conference playoffs.

Saturday's win improved SRU's overall record to 14-9 and its PSAC-West mark to 3-7. Edinboro , with the loss, saw its record drop to 9-14, 3-7.

The Rock and Fighting Scots are tied for seventh place in the eight-team division. With four division games left to play, both teams trail fourth-place Mercyhurst by two and a half games in the quest for the fourth and final playoff berth awarded to a PSAC-West team.

SRU will look to ride the momentum of Saturday's win and further enhance their playoff hopes Wednesday when they travel to Lock Haven for an 8 p.m. division game.

The Rock then closes out its home schedule with back-to-back games Feb. 20 (Clarion) and Feb. 24 (California) in Morrow Field House before travelling to Indiana for the regular-season finale Feb. 27.

Bailey was one of four Rock players who finished the game with a double-digit scoring total. Senior guard Michael Evans Jr. scored 15 points, junior forward Maron Brown recorded his team-best 11th "double-double" of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds and senior guard Cecil Brown chipped in 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Edinboro's Byron Knight scored a game-high 26 points. Former Rock player Cory Somerville added 14 points and seven rebounds, Danny Walsh scored 12 points and Justin Moore contributed 11 points for the Fighting Scots.

Bailey recorded what proved to be the game-winning pointswhen he scored on a layup with 1:15 left play to give SRU a 78-74 lead. That basket came 45 seconds after he scored on another layup to put The Rock up by a 76-74 score and 60 seconds after he made two free throws to tie the score at 74-74 with 2:15 remaining.

Knight buried his fourth 3-point shot of the game with just less than a minute left to play to trim the margin, and that proved to be the final points of the game.

But that was far from the final exciting moment in the game.

The Rock had three chances to score on the possession following Knight's trey but, after getting two offensive rebounds, failed to put the ball in the basket twice and turned the ball over following the second miss.

Edinboro then got two chances to win the game, but also missed a pair of shots from close range. Maron Brown finally snared a defensive rebound as the final buzzer sounded to secure the win for SRU.

The Rock never led in the first 22-plus minutes and trailed by 10 points, 38-28, with three minutes left in the first half.

A 9-0 Rock run in the final three minutes of the opening stanza trimmed the deficit to one point, 38-37, at the intermission.

Two and a half minutes into the final 20 minutes of action, Bailey dunked an offensive rebound to give SRU its first lead of the game, 41-40.

The Rock didn't lead again until the seven-minute mark, when a 3-pointer by Evans Jr. put the hosts on top by a 66-65 score.  Three and a half minutes later, Evans Jr. scored on a layup to give SRU its third lead of the game, 72-70.

Knight canned two free throws to knot the score at 72-72 before the first of Bailey two final-minute layups gave The Rock a lead it would not relinquish.

As was the case in recent games, The Rock began Saturday's game with an icy shooting touch. The Green and White made only three of its first 12 field goal attempts and, as a result, found themselves down by a 21-9 score after six and a half minutes of action.

The Rock warmed up to hit 10 of its final 23 first-half field goals and had a 37% efficiency at the intermission.

SRU finished the game with a 39% (26-66) reading on its field goal attempts and hit 27% (7-26) from beyond the 3-point arc. The hosts also sank 19 of 25 (76%) free throws.

The Rock, for the first time in five games, outrebounded their rival as the Green and White held a significant 47-29 advantage on the boards. The Rock turned that advantage into a 30-9 difference in "second chance points."

Edinboro finished the game with a49% (28-57) efficiency on its field goal attempts that included a red-hot 53% (10-19) effort from 3-point range. The Fighting Scots made only 55% (11-20) of their free throws.

Both teams turned the ball over nine times in the game.

Rock substitutes outscored their Edinboro rivals by a 26-11 margin, led by the 15-point effort by Evans Jr.

Conference standings: Indiana leads the PSAC-West with a 7-1 division record prior to its home game Saturday night (7:30 p.m. tipoff) against Mercyhurst. Clarion, after its loss Saturday at Gannon, is in second place at 7-3, followed by Gannon at 6-4 and Mercyhurst at 5-4. California, with its win Saturday over Lock Haven, is in fifth place at 4-6, followed by Lock Haven at 3-6 and SRU and Edinboro at 3-7. Lock Haven travels to Indiana Monday for a game rescheduled from last Wednesday due to inclement weather.

Notes: Evans Jr., with three treys Saturday, now ranks fourth on SRU's career 3-point field goals made chart with 117 on 372 attempts (No. 5 in school history). He also ranks fifth in single-season treys with 61 on 189 attempts (tied for 3rd) this winter ... Maron Brown is four "double-double" efforts away from the school record set last winter by All-America performer Denell Stephens, who is now playing professional in Luxembourg ... Former Rock standout Troy Mild was honored during a pregame reception and halftime ceremony Saturday. He is the second of three former Rock stars who will have their uniforms retired as part of a series of special events sponsored by the SRU Advancement Division and Athletic Department.