Live Video
Live Audio
Live Statistics
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Game notes and live coverage links are now available for Saturday's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference men's basketball championship game between Slippery Rock University and Indiana University (Pa.). Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Indiana's Memorial Field House.
Live Coverage (all links above): A free live videocast of the game will be available, courtesy of Indiana's television station.
Live statistics will be available, courtesy of the Indiana sports information office.
A live audio Internet broadcast will also be available for free. Assistant sports information director
Jon Holtz will call the play-by-play, while Patrick Ross will provide color commentary. The pregame show will go on air at 6:45 p.m.
Tickets: For fans traveling to Indiana for the game, tickets can be purchased at the door Saturday for $8 for adults and $3 for students. The ticket windows will open at 4:30 p.m. All current Slippery Rock University students will be admitted free with valid ID.
How They Got Here: Slippery Rock, the No. 3 seed in the PSAC-West, defeated Mercyhurst 51-45 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night in Erie and rallied back from a 14-point deficit to defeat Cheyney, 82-73, in the semifinals Friday night at IUP.
Maron Brown led four SRU players in double figures with game-highs of 32 points and 11 rebounds.
Indiana (Pa.) earned the top seed in the PSAC-West and clinched home court advantage with a 73-68 win over a pesky California (Pa.) team in the quarterfinals. The Crimson Hawks earned a trip to their second consecutive PSAC final with an 81-72 win over East Stroudsburg Friday night in the semifinals.
Major Stakes: Slippery Rock entered the week at No. 10 in the final regular season regional rankings. The top eight teams in the region will make the NCAA tournament when the field is announced like Sunday night. The Rock has bolstered its resume with a road win over No. 4 Mercyhurst and a neutral court win over No. 9 Cheyney so far this week. A win Saturday would guarantee SRU a trip to the NCAA tournament.
Third Time's the Charm: This will be the third meeting between these two teams this year and Indiana has come away with wins in each of the previous two contests. The Crimson Hawks cruised to an 84-67 win at Memorial Field House Jan. 15. Daryl Webb led the hosts to the win with a 30 point, 11 rebound effort. Julian Sanders added 20 points and Ashton Smith chipped in 14. Brown led Slippery Rock with a 17 point, 11 rebound double-double.
The Crimson Hawks picked up their second win over SRU, 64-52, at Morrow Field House Feb. 12. Brown again led The Rock, this time with game-highs of 24 points and 16 rebounds. Webb scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to cancel out Brown's effort and Indiana got secondary scoring down the stretch to seal the win. Neither team led by more than four points for nearly the entire game, before the visitors broke away in the final four minutes for the win.
Series History: Indiana has claimed the last four meetings between these two teams, sweeping the regular season series in each of the last two years. The last win SRU had in the series came in the PSAC quarterfinals in 2009 when The Rock eliminated Indiana with an 86-69 win at Morrow Field House. Slippery Rock also defeated Indiana 73-72 in the final regular season game that year to earn the right to host the opening round game.
Back to the Playoffs: Slippery Rock made its second trip to the PSAC semifinals in the last three years after reaching the semifinals two seasons ago. This will mark SRU's first appearance in the conference title game since 2000. The Rock's only conference title came back in 1963 when Hank Baierl coached the team to a 74-73 win over Mansfield. In 15 trips to the PSAC playoffs, Slippery Rock has reached the semifinals 11 times, including each of the last five appearances (1963, 65, 72, 78, 82, 84, 90, 91, 2000, 09, 11).
