Boxscore

CALIFORNIA, Pa. – Slippery Rock University went on a 22-7 run to take its first lead of the game with seven minutes left to play Wednesday night but could not put the finishing touches on a valiant comeback effort and dropped a 69-68 decision to hosting California (Pa.) in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division men's basketball action.

The Rock (17-8 overall, 7-4 PSAC-W) trailed by 14 points (47-33) with 14 minutes left to play in the game before it went on the aforementioned run in the next eight minutes to take a 55-54 lead on a layup by senior forward Maron Brown.

A layup by junior guard Jon Valeriano gave SRU its largest lead of the game, 57-54, with just less than six minutes remaining but California came right back with an 8-0 run to regain the lead for good.

A pair of free throws by Brown with 27 seconds left brought The Rock to within two points, 68-66, before California got a free throw from Rashawd Hatten with 21 seconds left to account for the eventual winning point.

Rock junior guard Devin Taylor scored on a layup with 11 seconds left to make it a 69-68 game but, after California's Quentin Harding missed two free throws with 10 seconds left, Taylor's potential game-winning jumper missed the mark as the final horn sounded.

Senior guard Jabril Bailey scored a season- and game-high 24 points for The Rock, while Brown added 19 points and 10 rebounds to record his school-record-tying 15th “double-double” of the season. Valeriano and sophomore guard John Bayardelle each added eight points for SRU.

Chad Tipton scored a team-high 16 points for California (12-11, 5-6 PSAC-W), which ended a four-game losing skid, while Hatten scored 15 points.

Despite the loss, The Rock remained in sole possession of third place in the PSAC-West standings. SRU is two games ahead of both California and Clarion with three games left to play on the regular-season schedule.

The Rock can clinch its second PSAC tournament berth in the last three seasons with a win in any of its final three games.

The Green and White will get their first chance to lock up a postseason berth Saturday, when it travels to Erie for a 3 p.m. game against division-leading and 17th-ranked Mercyhurst (19-4, 10-1 PSAC-W), which was upset by Gannon, 79-71, in other action Wednesday night.

The Rock then closes out a three-game road trip with another trip to Erie next Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. game against Gannon (13-10, 4-7 PSAC-W).

The regular-season finale is Feb. 26, when The Rock hosts Edinboro (12-13, 4-7 PSAC-W) in a 3 p.m. game in Morrow Field House.

The Rock, after shooting only 35% (10-29) from the floor and 20% (3-15) from 3-point range in the first half, nailed 56% (15-27) of their action shots and 67% (6-9) of their long-range attempts in the final 20 minutes to finish with readings of 45% and 38%, respectively. SRU made eight of 10 free throws in the second half after hitting an icy 20% (1-5) in the opening 20 minutes and finished with a 60% efficiency on its charity tosses.

California finished the game with a 49% efficiency from the field, a 44% reading from 3-point range and a 67% accuracy from the foul line.

The Rock held a 31-29 edge in rebounds and also had less turnovers, 10-9, but was outscored “off the bench” by a 26-3 margin.

SRU missed its first five shots from the field as well as its first two free throws. As a result, The Rock found themselves down by an 8-0 score three minutes into the game and had to play catch-up for virtually the entire game.

California parlayed its quick start into a 15-4 lead with 14:30 left in the first half before The Rock went on a 10-5 run to trim the margin to six points, 20-14, with 8:45 left before the intermission.

The hosts came right back with an 11-2 run of their own, though, to extend the deficit to 15 points (31-16) with five minutes left in the half and took a 36-24 advantage into halftime.

The Rock's first-half offense consisted almost exclusively of Bailey and Brown, who had 11 and eight points, respectively, in the opening 20 minutes.

California, after hitting on 59% (10-17) of their field goal attempts in the first 12 minutes of action, cooled off and made only four of 13 in the final minutes of the half to finish the opening 20 minutes with a 47% (14-30) efficiency. The Vulcans hit four of eight shots from 3-point range and were 4-of-4 from the foul line.

Notes:

Brown, a third-year member of The Rock program, now ranks 10th on SRU's career rebounding chart with 790 and is 11th in career scoring with 1,190 points. He needs three rebounds to move into ninth place on that chart and 11 points to break into the top 10 in that category … Brown needs 10 points and 10 rebounds to become only the fourth player in Rock men's basketball history to score 1,200 or more points and grab 800 or more rebounds in his career. Ed McFarlane (1958-62; 1583 points, 1019 rebounds), Connie Palumbo (1953-57; 1227 points, 902 rebounds) and Mike Hardy (1975-78; 1221 points, 833 rebounds) are currently the only members of that elite group … Senior forward Joe Vines ranks fifth in career steals with 119.