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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa – Slippery Rock University's playoff-bound men's basketball team rode a balanced five-player scoring attack to a 78-72 victory Saturday afternoon over visiting Edinboro in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action.

Senior guard Jabril Bailey and junior guard Tommy Kelly each scored 15 points to lead the winning attack. Bailey also grabbed seven rebounds.

Senior forward Maron Brown added 13 points and 13 rebounds for his school-record 18th “double-double” performance of the season, senior forward Jade Burka chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds and senior guard Torrance Timothy added 10 points and five rebounds.

Senior forward Joe Vines also grabbed seven rebounds for The Rock, who closed out their regular-season schedule with a 19-9 overall record and a 9-5 PSAC-W mark.

Clint Nicholson scored a game-high 18 points for Edinboro (13-15, 5-9 PSAC-W).

Saturday's game was The Rock's final tuneup before Tuesday's PSAC tournament game at either Indiana (Pa.) or Mercyhurst.

Indiana hosted Mercyhurst in a Saturday night game to determine the division's champion and top seed in the conference tournament.

The loser of the Indiana-Mercyhurst game will finish second in the division standings and host the third-seeded Rock in an opening-round tournament game. The Indiana-Mercyhurst winner hosts fourth-seeded California (Pa.) in a first-round game.

The Indiana-Mercyhurst winner also earns the right to host the semifinal and final rounds of the conference tournament.

The Rock and Scots engaged in a tooth-and-nail battle for the first 14 and a half minutes Saturday with the score being tied on five occasions and the lead changing hands six times.

With the score tied at 25-25, SRU went on a 15-3 run in the span of four minutes to take a 40-28 lead with 90 seconds left in the first half.

Edinboro scored the next four points to trim the deficit to eight points, 40-32, at halftime.

SRU made 40% (14-25) of its field goal attempts, hit 46% (6-13) of its 3-point attempts and was a perfect 6-of-6 at the foul line in the opening 20 minutes.

Edinboro, meanwhile, shot 39% (10-26) from the field, 44% (4-9) from long range and hit eight of 12 free throws in the opening half.

The Rock dominated on the backboards, as evidenced by the Green and White's 26-13 advantage at halftime, but had more turnovers, 10-7.

SRU outscored the Scots by a 14-12 margin “in the paint,” by an 11-8 margin off turnovers and by a 13-10 margin “off the bench.”

Brown (6 rebounds) and Bailey each scored 10 points to lead The Rock's first-half scoring attack.Bryan Theriot, who finished the game with 10 points, had eight first-half tallies for Edinboro.

After eight minutes of action in the second half, The Rock held a 50-45 lead. The hosts then went on a 22-6 run to extend the lead to 70-51 with 3:45 left to play.

Edinboro refused to go away, though, and responded with a 14-2 run in just under three minutes to trim the deficit to only seven points, 72-65, with 50 seconds remaining.

With five ticks left, the difference was only four points, 76-72. Burka then canned a pair of free throws to ice the win.

The Rock finished the game with a 44% (27-62) efficiency on its field goal attempts, hit 53% (11-21) of its 3-point shots and canned 65% (13-20) of its free throws.

Edinboro shot 38% (24-62) from the field, 355 (7-20) from 3-point range and 65% (17-26) from the foul line.

The Rock won the rebounding battle by a 49-33 margin but also committed more turnovers, 20-12. Edinboro converted the SRU errors into 19 points, while The Rock scored 14 points off Scots' miscues.

Each team got 30 points “in the paint,” while The Rock outscored by the Scots by a 16-11 margin in second-chance points and had a 31-19 advantage in points “off the bench.”

Notes:

Brown now ranks eighth in career scoring with 1239 points and seventh in career rebounds with 827 … Kevin Reynolds, who owns a 55-29 record in three seasons as The Rock's head coach, is now one win away from moving into a tie for sixth place on SRU's all-time wins list ... Bailey, Brown, Burka and Timothy were included in a group of seven Rock seniors honored prior to the game, their final home appearance with the Green and White.