Boxscore
ERIE, Pa. – Senior forward
Maron Brown had game-high totals of 22 points and 13 rebounds Wednesday night but could not lead the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team to victory in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action at Gannon University.
The hosting Golden Knights (14-11 overall, 5-8 PSAC-W) made five of six free throws in the final 30 seconds of action and scored seven of the last nine points to hand The Rock (18-9 overall, 8-5 PSAC-West) a 62-59 defeat in a classic “nip-and-tuck,” “tooth-and-nail” hardwood battle.
Brown, who improved his school-record “double-double” total to 17 this winter, was one of only two Rock players to finish the game with a double-digit scoring total. Sophomore guard
Aubin Reeves chipped in 12 points and five rebounds for the Green and White.
Travis Brannen scored a team-high 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Gannon.
The Rock, who are ranked ninth in this week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Region poll, will look to bounce back and gain a little momentum for the upcoming PSAC tournament when they host Edinboro in the regular-season finale at 3 p.m. Saturday in Morrow Field House.
Brown will be one of seven Rock seniors honored prior to tipoff of that game.
SRU then returns to action two nights later to play an opening-round game in the PSAC postseason tournament on the road. The Rock, the No. 3 team in this winter's PSAC-West standings, will travel to either Indiana (Pa.) or Mercyhurst for that first-round game.
Indiana and Mercyhurst both recorded wins Wednesday night to remain deadlocked for the top spot in the division standings and set the stage for their head-to-head meeting Saturday in Indiana.
The Rock, after an ice-cold start, finished Wednesday's game with a respectable 39% (24-61) efficiency on its field goal attempts and made 33% (6-18) of their 3-point shots.
Gannon, meanwhile, shot 35% (19-54) from the field and 27% (5-18) from beyond the arc.
The hosts enjoyed a 19-5 scoring cushion from the foul line, where they had a 25-7 advantage in attempts. Percentagewise, the teams were pretty much equal. SRU shot 71% from the charity stripe, Gannon 74%.
Behind Brown's lead, The Rock had a 39-38 edge in rebounds but committed more turnovers, 10-8. It must be pointed out, though, that The Rock had only three turnovers in the final 29 minutes of action after committing seven miscues in the first 11 minutes.
Reeves buried a pair of 3-point shots in the first four minutes of the game to stake The Rock to an 8-4 lead before Gannon ran off 10 unanswered points in the next eight minutes to take a 14-8 lead.
The Rock trimmed the deficit to two points on a pair of occasions in the next five minutes, but found itself down by five points, 24-19, at the intermission.
Contributing immensely to the Green and White's slow start were a 3-for-16 (19%) shooting effort from the floor and seven turnovers in the first 11 minutes of action. Gannon wasn't a whole lot better as the Golden Knights made only 33% (5-15) of their shots and had five turnovers in that same time span.
The Rock finished the half with a 27% (8-30) efficiency on its field goal attempts with a 22% (2-9) showing from 3-point range. The guests made their only first-half free throw attempt.
Gannon was only a slight bit better shooting-wise as the hosts made 29% (9-31) of their attempts, a reading drug down by a 1-for-10 effort from beyond the arc. The Golden Knights made five of nine charity tosses and held a 25-22 rebounding edge in the opening 20 minutes.
Brown and Reeves each scored six first-half points for SRU, with Brown grabbing a team-best eight rebounds. Brannen had 11 points and eight rebounds for Gannon.
Gannon scored the first basket of the second half to take its largest lead of the night, a seven-point, 26-19, advantage 15 seconds into the final stanza before The Rock ran off eight unanswered points to take a 27-26 edge with 17:15 left.
That was the first of four lead changes that occurred in the span of 60 seconds and resulted in Gannon holding a 31-30 lead with 16 minutes remaining.
Gannon then scored six of the next eight points to take a 37-32 lead, only to see The Rock respond with five unanswered points to tie the score at 37-37 with 13 minutes left.
Two ties later, Gannon scored seven unanswered points to take a 48-41 lead with 7:45 remaining, again only to see The Rock come right back with a 9-2 run to retie the score (50-50) with four minutes left.
The Rock continued its run and held a pair of three-point advantages in the span of 90 seconds, the second of which was a 57-54 margin with one minute left to play.
That merely set the stage for a frenetic final 60 seconds in which Gannon outscored its guests by an 8-2 margin to record the win.
Notes:
With his effort Wednesday night, Brown moved into eighth place on SRU's career rebounding chart with 814 and ninth on the career scoring chart with 1,226 points in his three-year Rock career. He needs two points to take over eighth place on the scoring chart and 19 rebounds to move into seventh place on that list … Brown began Wednesday's game ranked 14th among NCAA Division II rebounders this winter with a 10.2 per game average that ranked third among PSAC players.